Concluding observations: Three core themes

The aim to achieve a high level of environmental protection concerns a complex, wide domain that, for example, encompasses issues related to water, air, soil, noise, chemicals, species, and landscape. Environmental policy is entrenched with technical complexities and, often, uncertainty about the potential effects of certain actions or substances. While law can be seen as a crucial tool to develop protection against deterioration of the environment, it is no easy matter to decide on the best form of legal instruments. What kind of regulatory tools are fit for a certain environmental problem? What kind of legally enforceable substantive and procedural rights should be given to citizens and environmental non-governmental organisations? How can we make environmental law coherent and accessible? Given the complexity and wideness of the whole environmental problem, the ideal of a clear, transparent, and easy to understand legislative package is illusionary. The complexity and incomprehensiveness of the EU environmental legislative package is a core concern, primarily for those who need to work with it in practice. In this vein, we can see the emergence of specialists in the fields of EU water law, EU climate law, and EU nature conservation law. This book attempts to contribute to a cross-cutting debate on EU environmental law by examining EU environmental legislation from a legal perspective.