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108 ATTILA PANOVICS In the European Union, it is essentially the Member States that are responsible for the implementation of EU law at the national level; this is constantly monitored by the European Commission as the ‘guardian of the EU Treaties’. The practical application of EU law therefore depends essentially on the effectiveness of the cooperation between the Commission and the Member States. As mentioned earlier, international law is essentially intergovernmental, whereas the European Union has what is known as supranational characteristics. The most important of these, alongside the Brussels Commission already mentioned, is the Court of Justice of the EU,'* which both cooperates with national courts in the Member States (to ensure a uniform interpretation of EU law) and is ultimately the highest judicial forum for the settlement of disputes in accordance with EU law. The effectiveness of the Court of Justice of the EU is therefore primarily due to the fact that, compared to other international judicial forums, the new Member States must, upon accession to the EU, recognise the exclusive jurisdiction of the Luxembourg body in matters of EU law. In infringement proceedings brought against EU Member States for breach of EU law, generally by the European Commission, the Member State concerned is obliged to participate as a defendant and may not refuse to participate in the proceedings." However, it is by no means certain that a judgment will be delivered at the end of the proceedings, and it is very rare for a sanction (a penalty payment and/or a lump sum) to be imposed on a Member State for breaching an EU obligation, since this is not the purpose of the proceedings. Rather, it is to bring the infringement to an end as soon as possible and to enforce the obligations arising from EU law (Osztovits et al. 2021: 305). Thus, the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the EU is the main guarantee of the effectiveness of EU law — also in environmental matters. EU environmental policy and law have evolved in parallel with the development of international environmental cooperation and have now created the most comprehensive regime in the world (Delreux — Happaerts 2016: 12), although single market legislation currently still forms the core of EU law. The EU environmental acguis is sufficiently comprehensive and ambitious in nature to have a direct impact on the environmental performance of EU Member States. Effective implementation reguires, in particular, public authorities (e.g., environmental inspectorates) with adeguate capacities (staff, funding and resources) at the level of the member states . The EU does not specifically support this, but it does expect full implementation of member states" obligations under EU (environmental) law (Krámer 2012: 397). "The Court of Justice of the EU (formerly the Court of Justice of the European Communities), based in Luxembourg, is not to be confused with the European Court of Human Rights, based in Strasbourg and serving an institution of the traditional international organization known as the Council of Europe. Its main task is to interpret and apply the European Convention on Human Rights (1950) and its protocols, while the Court of Justice of the EU is specifically responsible for ensuring respect for EU law. See the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) article 258.
