The EU as an International Actor: The Protection of the Ozone Layer

Striving for a common foreign environmental policy, the European Union (EU) has developed from a laggard in the mid‐1980s to a partial leader in the 1990s in international co‐operation on protection of the ozone layer. Factors specific to the EU which impact on its performance in this area point to more general constraints on EU foreign environmental policy‐making. The EU has had difficulties in leading on issues not firmly established on its policy agenda. On subjects for which European legislation existed, coherent EU leadership at the international level has been more frequent. Implementation problems, however, undermine the international credibility of the EU.