The legal foundations of environmental protection in the European Union

Academic research engages in ongoing debate regarding the legal nature, interrelationship, and correlation between legal principles and legal norms; between legal principles and the principles of legal regulation; as well as between legal principles and the principles of legal policy. Nevertheless, it is the principles of law that constitute the fundamental basis and structural framework upon which all other legal elements are built. These principles guide the legal regulation of social relations and shape the direction of legal policy. In this regard, it is appropriate to approach these concepts from a perspective that distinguishes between the primary and the derivative. In specialised doctrinal literature, alongside the principles of EU law, particular attention is devoted to the legal nature and distinctive features of the concept of “EU values”, and to the relationship between the categories “principles of EU law” and “EU values”. This article offers a comprehensive analysis of the legal foundations of environmental protection in the European Union through the lens of the categories “EU values”, “principles of EU law”, and “principles of EU environmental law”. It elucidates their core meanings, provides a systematic classification, and presents the author’s original approach to interpreting the content and internal structure of the EU’s legal framework for environmental protection. The author’s proposed “legal foundations of environmental protection in the EU” emphasises the importance of a holistic examination, encompassing not only the specific principles of EU environmental law, but also the broader ideological benchmarks of the legal regulation of environmental relations across the Union. The article concludes that the most optimal internal structure of the EU’s legal framework for environmental protection is reflected in the following three-tiered classification of principles: 1) values-principles or mega-principles: equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, justice, security, the sustainable development of the Earth, free and fair trade, eradication of poverty and the protection of human rights; 2) general principles of EU law: principle of EU law primacy, principle of EU law direct effect, principle of cooperation, principle of integrating environmental issues into EU policies and actions, principle of subsidiarity, principle of proportionality; 3) special principles of EU environmental law: precautionary and prevention principles, principle of rectification of damage at source, principle of sustainable development, the polluter pays principle.