Publication: El principio de integración medioambiental dentro de la Unión Europea: la imbricación entre integración y desarrollo sostenible
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2003
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Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
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Abstract
El principio de integración, tal y como fue inicialmente concebido por la UE, se define como la incorporación del componente medioambiental a todas aquellas políticas con efectos negativos sobre el entorno, siendo su principal objetivo mejorar los rendimientos de la política de protección del medio ambiente a nivel comunitario. Posteriormente, este mismo principio se ha vinculado a la estrategia europea de desarrollo sostenible (DS), que propugna la compatibilidad entre crecimiento económico, conservación del medio físico y bienestar social. La vinculación del principio de integración al DS se ha traducido en lo que podría denominarse una «versión ampliada» (u horizontal) del mismo, que aspira a impregnar el proceso político vinculado al programa de sostenibilidad1 en su totalidad, desde la etapa inicial de formación de agenda hasta la etapa final de evaluación de resultados, frente a la inicial «versión restringida» (o vertical), que se centraba meramente en la aplicación de criterios medioambientales al funcionamiento de determinados organismos públicos. Como la teórica armonía que se proclama con respecto a los tres elementos que componen el DS es falsa, el principal problema de esta versión ampliada es que oculta los importantísimos conflictos de interés que se producen cuando se intenta llevar el DS a la práctica. La difícil aplicabilidad de la sostenibilidad se refleja, entre otras cosas, tanto en que la dimensión horizontal del principio de integración, plasmada en las estrategias de DS que han elaborado o todavía están elaborando muchos países de la OCDE, no ha sido (o sólo insuficientemente) desarrollada, como en que la dimensión vertical se ha consolidado más en el nivel retórico-formal de la política que en el sustantivo.
The integration principle was initially conceived by the EU as the incorporation of environmental concerns into those policies with harmful effects on the environment, its main aim being the improvement of Community environmental policy. Later on, the same principle has been linked to the European Strategy of Sustainable Development (SD) which advocates the compatibility between economic growth, environmental conservation and social welfare. This connection has reflected itself in a «global version» (horizontal) of the principle, in the sense that the sustainability programme aspires now to influence the entire political process, from its early stage of agenda-setting to the final stage of policy assessment, in contrast with the «narrow version» (vertical) which simply revolved around the need to apply environmental criteria to the working of certain public agencies. The main problem of the global version is that it blurrs the crucial conflicts of interest that are brought about when SD is put into practice. This is so because the theoretical harmony between the three different pillars which compose SD is false. The low political feasibility of SD can be seen in the insufficient development of the horizontal dimension of the integration principle, as shown by the national strategies of SD which are underway in the OECD, and also in the fact that the vertical dimension of the principle is adhered to in a rather rethorical way
The integration principle was initially conceived by the EU as the incorporation of environmental concerns into those policies with harmful effects on the environment, its main aim being the improvement of Community environmental policy. Later on, the same principle has been linked to the European Strategy of Sustainable Development (SD) which advocates the compatibility between economic growth, environmental conservation and social welfare. This connection has reflected itself in a «global version» (horizontal) of the principle, in the sense that the sustainability programme aspires now to influence the entire political process, from its early stage of agenda-setting to the final stage of policy assessment, in contrast with the «narrow version» (vertical) which simply revolved around the need to apply environmental criteria to the working of certain public agencies. The main problem of the global version is that it blurrs the crucial conflicts of interest that are brought about when SD is put into practice. This is so because the theoretical harmony between the three different pillars which compose SD is false. The low political feasibility of SD can be seen in the insufficient development of the horizontal dimension of the integration principle, as shown by the national strategies of SD which are underway in the OECD, and also in the fact that the vertical dimension of the principle is adhered to in a rather rethorical way