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24 ERA F. 1 (2023)

handle is hein.journals/erafrum24 and id is 1 raw text is: ERA Forum (2023) 24:1-7 https://doi.org/1 0.1007/si12027-023-00750-z EDITORIAL EU environmental law in face of 2022 challenges: a Prufrock-like confession during times when one should dare? Luisa Cortat Simonetti Goncalves1,2 Accepted: 15 June 2023 / Published online: 3 July 2023 ERA,* © The Author(s) 2023 ** * The European Union (EU) has been, for a couple of decades now, an important player in the development of environmental law. The bloc's policies and legislation influence both national regulation - due to their binding effect on Member States - and the international agenda - due to their political and economic impact in international affairs. For the most part, the EU is perceived as being at the cutting edge of environ- mental pledges, supporting environmental protection in its various forms, and ad- vancing global movements mainly through the implications of its policies for third parties. Nevertheless, on many occasions, European efforts do not match the scale of environmental problems and threats that must be faced, especially where national transposition and implementation are concerned. Rather like T. S. Eliot's Prufrock, the EU seems to epitomise the frustration and impotence of the modern individual and represent thwarted desires and modern disillusionment.1 The protagonist of the poem is a man looking forward to con- summating his relationship with a woman, but that knows too much of life to dare believing that an approach to the beloved one could be successful. He is educated and eloquent, but with a tortured psyche that does not believe its goal is achievable. In the face of the size and complexity of the current environmental problems that must be addressed, a similar freezing effect can be observed. In other words, in the environmental law scenario, governments and institutions often yield to pressures or hesitate to adopt measures that correspond to the protection needed. 1McCoy, Harlan [19]. [ L. Cortat Simonetti Goncalves luisaesg@gmail.com 1 Course Director, Public Law Section, Academy of European Law ERA, Trier, Germany 2 Research Associate, United Nations University FLORES, Dresden, Germany '_ Springer