REPORTS
Non-compliance with the Habitats Directive in the design of wind farm projects in Greece – infringement: INFR(2014)4073
Each Member State of the European Union must fully apply EU law. The body responsible for identifying possible violations of EU law is the European Commission. Where a Member State does not apply EU law and breaches its obligations under the EU Treaties, the European Commission may open a formal infringement procedure under Articles 258 and 260 TFEU (see details on the infringement procedure here).
According to Directive 92/43/EEC (on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora) all plans and projects likely to have a significant effect on Natura 2000 sites must be subject to an appropriate impact assessment. However, as stated in the February Infringement Package, Greece’s existing plan for renewable energy sources (Special Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development Framework for Renewable Energy Sources) was adopted without such an assessment. As the Commission states, the existing plan for renewables called “special framework for spatial planning and sustainable development for renewable energy resources” had been authorised without such an assessment having first been carried out.
This means that projects are being authorised on the basis of a plan that does not comply with EU legislation. The Commission sent a letter of formal notice to Greece in July 2014.
Since then, the plan has still not been revised or subjected to the appropriate assessment, as required by the Habitats Directive. Despite the Commission’s offer of technical support, the procedure to revise the plan has still not been completed. For this reason, the European Commission has decided to send a reasoned opinion to Greece, calling on it to comply with EU law when planning wind farm projects.
Information about this procedure and the European Commission’s decisions on the infringement in question can be found on the European Commission’s website by entering INFR(2014)4073 in the “Infringement number” field.
The application of EU law is an obligation of the Member States of the European Union. If infringements of EU law are identified, the European Commission may take a series of actions against the Member State concerned to ensure the correct and full application of EU law by opening infringement proceedings under Articles 258 and 260 TFEU.
In February 2023, the European Commission decided to send a reasoned opinion under Article 258 TFEU to Greece for non-compliance with the Habitats Directive (Directive 92/43/EEC) when designing wind farm projects.
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