Irish Regions Office Website

February 26, 2010

MEPs want green law compliance

The European Parliament has branded Member States' persistent failures to properly implement EU environmental legislation as ''increasingly absurd''. At their 23 February meeting, MEPs in the Environment Committee called on the European Commission to take a harder and more consistent line in publically naming and shaming governments who have not managed to nationally transpose the laws they helped draw up.

The Committee also suggested the establishment of an early-warning system in order to improve respect for legal obligations and to provide for a more accurate reflection of the state of environmental management across Europe. This intervention follows upon a recent Commission feasibility study into the need for a specific EU waste management body to ensure compliance of national laws in this field, including by carrying out the growing backlog of inspections pending for infringements in Member States (see January's Bulletin).

The recent decision to divide the Commissio'’s environment directorate-general into two separate directorates - climate action and environment - may allow a future streamlining of attention paid to implementation in waste, water, air quality and nature protection. Four priority areas for improved enforcement have already been emphasised by the Commission: lack of transposition; systemic breaches (e.g. tolerance of illegal landfill and poorly treated waste water); breaches of infrastructure (e.g. inadequate environmental impact assessments); and non-respect of European Court of Justice rulings. The Lisbon Treaty grants the Commission easier recourse to court proceedings and fines against Member States than before. More constructively, as a means of bridging the gap between adoption of legislation and its implementation, the Commission has developed'Implementation Action Plans' and is working on ongoing 'Transposition Plans' for Member States to follow.

Posted by iroronan at February 26, 2010 10:33 AM