Historical and political changes in Eastern and Central Europe resulted in the adoption of market capitalism typical of evaluation of material accumulation with lacking concern about environment in which and thank to which economic activities can take place. Fortunately, the attitude toward ecologic issues has been improving even if the institutional background is not ideal. Performing Data Envelopment Analysis the paper evaluates to what extent the EU countries are efficient in reaching both environmental and economic goals within their institutional frameworks. Moreover, policy recommendations related to the improvement of current state situation are formulated.