Source: European Parliament
The Commission has been in close contact with the Greek authorities over the last years to assist them to implement the ruling of the Court in Case C-849 /19[1].
Greece has now adopted conservation objectives for all Special Areas of Conservation. The Commission will take action as appropriate to ensure that Greece also adopts conservation measures to fully comply with the ruling.
Concerning the separate file EU Pilot file EUP(2021)9806 and based on the information available, it was not possible to confirm the alleged in correct transposition of the Habitats Directive[2] and the file was closed.
As regards infringement case INFR(2014)4073[3], the Commission is assessing the replies received by the Greek authorities, following the reasoned opinion. T he objective of this type of infringement procedure is to assist the Member State in bringing the situation of non-conformity to an end.
This case concerns the absence of a national legal framework that complies with Article 6(3) of the Habitats Directive. However, this absence of compliant national framework does not mean that wind farm projects based on this framework are also automatically in breach of the above provision.
National administrative and/or judicial bodies are primarily responsible to verify compliance of individual projects with the EU environmental legislation and provide the appropriate means to address the matter.
Citizens are thus invited to use existing national means of redress if they want to contest a specific project for possibly breaching relevant EU law.
In its role as guardian of the Treaties, the Commission will continue monitoring the situation and may decide to take appropriate action.
- [1] https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=235718&pageIndex=0&doclang=FR&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=76753
- [2] Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7-50.
- [3] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/inf_23_525