The Principle of Reconciliation: Towards Governance of ‘Sustainability’?

Abstract

The administrative judge, within the current context and the limits of his competence, is faced with a new challenge: to be a judge of the planet’s “sustainability.”

The reconciliation between the three pillars of sustainable development represents the lowest level of environmental protection that we can imagine since its emergence in the sphere of public policies.

The principle of reconciliation is a new principle of constitutional value, enunciated by the French Constitutional Council as a “methodological” principle, and it offers a somewhat more tangible content to the concept of “sustainable development.” The principle of reconciliation confers constitutional value on the safeguarding of the environment and corresponds to a legal translation of the objective of sustainable development.