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Greece condemned by the Court of Justice of the European Union for insufficient protection of Natura 2000
On 17 December 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) condemned Greece for failing to adopt, within the timeframe provided by EU law, appropriate measures for the protection of Natura 2000 sites. These sites, covering more than 18% of land and 8% of the EU’s maritime territory, form the largest coordinated network of protected areas in the world, offering shelter to endangered species and habitats in Europe.
The network was founded in 1992 and has, over the following decades, become a key pillar of EU policy to protect the continent’s flora and fauna. It is based on two pieces of legislation:
With regard to the content of the above legislation, Directive 92/43/EEC provides for the establishment of the Natura 2000 network with the inclusion in it of protected natural areas, known as Special Areas of Conservation (SAPs) for habitats and species, and Special Protection Areas (SPAs) for birds, under Directive 2009/147/EC.
Under this legislation, Greece, like any Member State, was called upon to identify and propose to the European Union local areas within the country which it considers to be important for the conservation of species and habitats. The country complied with its obligation and in the middle of the last decade sent a list of sites to be included in the Natura 2000 network to the European Commission. Based on this list, on 19 July 2006 the Commission approved a list of 239 sites to be designated as Sites of Community Importance.
However, Greece did not fulfil its next obligation, which was to register the protected species and habitats within the Natura sites that she herself had proposed, and which the Commission had approved and included in the network. The process was never completed; not by the deadline in 2012, nor in the following years. A formal letter and a reasoned opinion from the Commission followed on 25 February 2016, stating that the country “has not set the required priorities, nor has it adopted the necessary conservation measures for these sites,” adding that, “this significant divergence in compliance with the basic obligations of the habitats directive does not allow for the proper protection and management of the sites and poses a major threat to the proper functioning and coherence of the Natura 2000 network as a whole.”
As Greece did not comply with EU law, despite warnings, in 2018 the Commission referred the country to the CJEU, arguing that “the six-year deadline for Greece expired in July 2012 and Greece has not yet set the necessary targets and conservation measures for the Natura 2000 sites within its territory, endangering the integrity of the pan-European network.”
Finally, in December 2020, the CJEU condemned Greece, finding that it had violated its obligations to protect species and habitats in Natura 2000 areas. In its decision, the CJEU ruled that:
“The Hellenic Republic, by not adopting within the prescribed time limits all the measures necessary for the determination of the appropriate conservation objectives and the appropriate conservation measures for the 239 sites of community importance located in the territory of Greece and contained in Commission Decision 2006/613/EC of 19 July 2006, on the approval of the list of sites of community importance for the Mediterranean biogeographical area, has failed to fulfil its obligations under article 4, paragraph 4 and article 6, paragraph 1 of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, as amended by Council Directive 2006/105/EC of 20 November 2006.”
In a state governed by the rule of law, the government must fully implement EU Directives within the stipulated deadlines, as well as take all necessary measures to implement their rules.
However, in this case the Greek government did not apply the rules provided by Directives 92/43/EEC and 2009/147/EC, as a result of which the Natura 2000 network areas in Greece were not effectively protected and the country was condemned by the CJEU.
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