Infringement Observatory December update
In December the Commission continued to bring legal action against member states who do not comply with the union’s environmental laws and 17 of the 45 new infringement proceeding launched by the Commission are related to environment. A few, such as the proceeding against Belgium regarding non-conform transposition of Directive 2011/92/EU on the assessment of effects of private and public projects on the environment, falls directly within the “environment” policy area while a majority of the proceedings are indirectly related to the environmental legal framework, such as the proceedings against 14 member states due to their failure to submit a strategy in coherence with directive 2010/31/EU on the energy performance of buildings.
In particular, the Commission has been quite resolute with regard to Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality and cleaner air (also mentioned in our November update). Air pollution is a severe threat to human health and according to the European Environment Agency around 400 000 premature deaths can be connected to pollution and poor air quality in the EU every year. Against this context it is not surprising that the Commission in 2020 launched six new infringement procedures and referred three new cases to the CJEU concerning violations of directive 2008/50/EC.
In the beginning of December, the Commission decided to refer both Greece and Bulgaria to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg. Both cases are due to that the two member states fail to comply with the limit values for air quality as set by directive 2008/50/EC.
According to the Commission, Greece has been systematically exceeding the air quality limits since 2005 and in the city of Thessaloniki the limit value was exceeded 67 days during 2019. In Bulgaria however, the problem with air pollution seems to be even greater and the Commission describes the situation as one of the most severe in the EU with exceedances of the daily air pollution limits of up to 90 days per year. In this regard, it must be noted that the Bulgarian infringement is a continuation of the Court’s previous judgement in C-488/15 in 2017, which found that Bulgaria did not fulfil its obligations under directive 2008/50/EC. The Commission’s holds the position that Bulgaria neither complies with the judgement nor the directive and asserts that the member state should both reach regulatory compliance and be subjected to financial penalties for the time from the first judgement until full compliance is achieved.
From a Swedish perspective it is notable that there are two active infringement proceedings against Sweden concerning air quality and violations of directive 2008/50/EC. In 2015 the Commission sent a reasoned opinion to Sweden regarding air pollution limits being exceeded in the areas of Norrköping, Södertälje, Uppsala and Stockholm. In 2019 another infringement proceeding was launched against Sweden on the ground that Sweden has not, according to the Commission, put in place a system which allows for verifying air quality in coherence with the directives requirements. In July 2020 the Commission sent a reasoned opinion to Sweden asserting that the case may be referred to the CJEU if Sweden does not bring its legal framework on air quality into compliance with the directive. Keeping in mind the serious health issues at stake and the Commission’s determined approach concerning air pollution, pending on the Swedish government’s ambition to adopt measures ensuring compliance with the directive it is quite possible that the Commission will bring Sweden to the Court of Justice as well.
Are you interested in member state compliance of EU law? Explore the Infringement Observatory to learn more about current infringement proceedings in the member states and please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any comments or questions.