Paper Titles & Abstracts

Within the liberal tradition, inter-temporal intergenerational justice (i.e. between current and future generations) has emerged as a significant concern as marginalised or vulnerable groups and individuals are to be protected from oppressive state practices. In the case of the EU the notion of intergenerational justice is implicit in, but not stated explicitly, in EU treaties. This paper assesses two different mechanisms for securing intergenerational justice with reference to EU environmental policy: sustainability and representation. Areas falling within the EU's policy competence mean that the way in which the EU legislates has the potential to impact on the material bases of future societies. So the way in which resources are used as a means of pursuing the goal of economic growth; or the continuing focus on nuclear energy on the grounds of energy security, despite its risks, could have a massive and malevolent influence on future generations. The EU has responded to this challenge by incorporating the notion of sustainability across its activities. The current model of sustainability within the EU effectively advocates for an 'overlapping model' of intergenerational justice whereby a 'sustainable' society (as measured by a sustainability index) is bequeathed to the next generation in anticipation of our best environmental, political, economic and social predictions, may fail to provide a robust and coherent voice for future generations. Developments in the concept of political representation which see a movement away from the assumption of a principal-agent relationship, may offer greater explanatory and practical value in outlining how the interests of future generations can be more effectively secured in EU environmental politics.