Abstract
"The Union shall work for the sustainable development of Europe based on balanced economic growth and price stability, a highly competitive social market economy, aiming at full employment and social progress, and a high level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment" stipulates article 3.3 of the Lisbon Treaty. This statement placed on the top of the 2007 Treaty shows that the environmental issue is one of the EU's highest priorities: the European institutions are very much concerned with the environment. Indeed, the EU was a pioneer player concerning the actions on a large scale for safeguarding environment: political measures to limit the impacts of climate change and to promote sustainable development were taken pretty early in the European Union. This important environmental concern is clearly expressed in the EU's web page which is dealing with environment: "The EU has some of the highest environment standards in the world, developed over decades to address a wide range of issues. Today the main priorities are combating climate change, preserving biodiversity, reducing health problems from pollution and using natural resources more responsibly". According to this, the EU seems to be really propping up sustainable development and adaptation to climate change. It makes us wonder, how does this support take shape in the European development policy? First, we will see in which way that the environmental paradigm integrated to European policies and then, we will try to evaluate the strengths and drawbacks of the EU environmental policy.
