Which Legal Principles for the Ecological transition? The case of the European circular economy

The contribution starts with an analysis of the European Green Deal as the source for the proposed European ecological transition. It then questions whether ecological transition equals energy transition. Then it focuses in particular on the identification of some legal principles which may promote and govern the European ecological transition. To this effect, four principles are identified: two of them, namely the principle of integration and the principle of sustainable development, are already present in EU law, while the other two are instead new emerging principles in the environmental protection field, namely the non-regression principle and the in dubio pro natura principle. Following the analysis of the four principles and their relevance for the promotion of the ecological transition, in the final part the focus shift on the contribution that the ecological transition may give to the promotion of a shift towards a circular economy in the European Union.