“Without doubt, the EU now exerts the most significant and effective influence on British and Irish environmental policy (McGowan, 1999: 175) . » The European Union has become one of the world leaders in environmental standards and the ability to enforce legislation in its member states. Today, as in the past, challenges and opportunities have been encountered and will continue to present themselves in the future. Indeed, Europe now has a direct impact on food producers and manufacturers through the implementation of various policies such as the Nitrates Directive and climate change issues - both of which are addressed respectively in this document. Through these and other policies, the country has established a “green” image focused on safeguarding the health and well-being of its population. These will now serve as a basis for other initiatives in the future. The most important of these in this area is the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and it is on this that the academic work that I have undertaken is focused. In particular, I will discuss how promising directives, such as the Nitrates Directive, with significantly beneficial fundamental objectives, can limit the way our food producers have been implemented. The CAP represents a very significant part of the EU budget, even if it has decreased significantly over the last 25 years, going from “73% in 1985 to 41% in 2012” (European Commission, 2013), it still represents a significant part of the EU budget. total EU spending. This drop in the budget, however, led to other challenges for farmers, notably the implementation of milk quotas in 1983. However, with the removal of quotas from 2015, a window of opportunity now opens up for... .... middle of paper ......environmentnexus%20papers/Greening%20CAP%20Payments_A%20Missed%20Opportunity-IIEA-environex_project-2013.pdf. Last accessed May 2014.Mc Gowan, L. (1999), “Environmental Policy” in N. Collins (ed.), Political Issues in Ireland Today, 2nd edition, Manchester: Manchester University PressPachauri, RK, Reisinger, A. (2007). IPCC Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2007. Available: http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/syr/en/figure-spm-3.html. Last accessed May 2014.SOILSERVICE. (2013). Recognize the importance of soil biodiversity. Available: http://ec.europa.eu/research/infocentre/article_en.cfm?artid=30893. Last accessed April 1, 2014. Irish Farmers' Association. (2013). Review of the Irish Nitrates Action Program. Available: http://www.ifa.ie/portals/11/policy/IFA%20Nitrates%20Review%20Submission%20June%2020131.pdf. Last consulted on March 31 2014.