Right to the Environment in the European Union

High level of protection vs. human right

Abstract

In 2021, the United Nations Human Rights Council declared the human right to the environment for the first time at the global level of international law with Resolution 48/13, reaffirmed the following year by the General Assembly in its Resolution 76/300. However, domestic legal developments reflected the importance of recognising this right much earlier, and as a result, it was first included in the Constitution of Portugal in 1976. By contrast, no act in the European Union's legal order references the full, substantive recognition of this right. Article 37 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union refers to environmental protection, not human rights. The paper reviews the position of the European Parliament and the European Economic and Social Committee on this issue and the question of the 'common constitutional tradition of the Member States'. Concerning the latter, the constitutional provisions of the EU Member States in this respect, their possible absence, and the specific solutions will be examined based on the UN report A/HRC/43/53 in order to determine whether there may be a common constitutional tradition in this respect.