THE CITIZENS’ PUBLIC PARTICIPATION UNDER EUROPEAN UNION LAW AND ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

Abstract

Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, June 25, 1998 (entered into force Oct. 30, 2001) [hereinafter Aarhus Convention], negotiated under the auspices of the UN/ECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe), is the result of the efforts to establish international legal standards in the field of citizens’ environmental rights to date. Also, it is the first international document about public participation in environmental matters, developing the principle 10 of the Rio Declaration, which stresses the need for citizen's participation in environmental issues and for access to information on the environment held by public authorities. Public participation, one of the three main pillars provided by Aarhus Convention, could be one of the key factors in involving the citizens in the protection of the environment and strengthening compliance and enforcement of national and European environmental law. Under European Union regulations, the right to participate in environmental decision-making process could be exercise more effectively based on European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) procedure. Therefore, the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI), as introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, allows citizens to request new EU legislation once a million signatures from seven member states have been collected asking the European Commission to do so. This paper explores environmental citizenship within the framework of European Union (EU) environmental law.