The European Union's Ecological Script and Its Acceptance by the Citizens of the EU Member and Candidate Countries

European Integration can be interpreted not only as a process of increased regulation & the emergence of a new supranational political system. European integration can also be seen as an attempt to establish a European society with specific values. Part of these values are ecological values. We ask to what extent European citizens -- of both EU member & candidate countries -- support the environmental values of the EU. In a first step we reconstruct the ecological script of the EU as it is defined in the treaties & in European law. In a second step we examine whether citizens support the value script of the European Union, whether there are significant differences between the member states & the candidate countries, & how these differences can be explained. For these purposes we analyze the 1999 "Gallup Millennium Survey" & the "ISSP 2000" data set. Overall the support of the ecological values is quite high. Nevertheless, there are significant differences between countries. The ecological standards of the EU get a high level of support within the fifteen old European Union countries & less support in the ten new & the further candidate countries. The level of support depends on several factors. The most important ones are the country's level of economic modernization & the respondent's postmaterial value orientation. We suppose that in the short run the new countries of the EU & the candidate countries will not support further EU-initiatives aimed at environmental protection. In the long run, however, this may change if the process of economic modernization & a shift from material to postmaterial values in these countries continues. Tables, Appendixes, References. Adapted from the source document.