The Implications of Accession for Waste Policies and Industrial Practices: Hungary and the European Union. University of Illinois EUC Working Paper, Vol. 4, No. 1

Gille, Zsuzsa. (2004) The Implications of Accession for Waste Policies and Industrial Practices: Hungary and the European Union. University of Illinois EUC Working Paper, Vol. 4, No. 1.

Abstract

The hope that prevailed immediately after the collapse of state socialism was that Eastern Europe’s environmental pollution would be "swept away by democracy and economic rationality." While with time such expectations have become more modest, some of the same hopes are now resurfacing as the accession of most former socialist countries to the European Union becomes imminent. Most environmentalists and policy experts anticipate an improvement in regulatory standards, in law enforcement, and in the availability of funding for environmental purposes. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether and how such expectations are being met in one area of environmental policies in Hungary, a country among the first wave of candidates to be admitted to the EU.