3 - Why environmental protection goals should play a role in EU competition policy: a legal systematic argument

Summary

Introduction

This chapter and the following two chapters put forward three arguments of principle which, together and individually, support the view that environmental protection goals should play a role in EU competition policy. The arguments are grounded, respectively, in reasoning based on: (1) the system of the Treaty and its underlying principles (the legal systematic argument, considered in this chapter); (2) governance theory (the governance argument, considered in Chapter 4); and (3) economic theory (the economic argument, considered in Chapter 5). Having set out the theoretical basis for these arguments, their application to EU competition law in practice will be considered in Part II.

The legal systematic argument is, in essence, a simple one. The founding Treaties should be viewed as forming a coherent system. This means that, where possible, and where Treaty provisions are sufficiently open-textured to be open to interpretation, they should be interpreted so as to help, and not hinder, the EU's other policy objectives. This approach is justified, it will be argued, in interpreting EU competition law just as in interpreting the rest of EU law.