"Before Greece jomed the EU, in 1981, and long before Spain and Portugal arrived, in 1986, the Directive 79/409/ EEC, known to its friends as the Birds Directive, came into force, in April 1979, Thirteen years later, in May 1992, when the EU was still a cluster of 12 western European countries (and Greece), we acquired the Habitats Directive, drafted largely by a UK former civil servant and MEP, one Stanley Johnson (yes, the 5le of Boris of that ilk). The rationale for the nature directives was partly that Europe?s wildlife was a shared resource that should be protected as part of ourjoint cultural heritage (like football, opera and cheese) but also, probably more importantly, that in a common market there should be common standards of environmental regulation."