EC refers Bulgaria to court over Natura 2000 network

The European Commission said on November 12 that it decided to refer Bulgaria to the EU Court of Justice for non-compliance with its obligations under the Habitats Directive (Directive 92/43 / EEC).

Once Member States have registered their sites of Community importance, they have six years to designate those areas as special areas of conservation. They are also obliged to establish conservation objectives that are specific to each territory and to introduce the necessary conservation measures aimed at the conservation or restoration of protected species and habitats in the territories, so as to achieve a favourable conservation status.
The EU's goal of halting biodiversity loss by protecting natural sites and restoring damaged ecosystems to good ecological status is set out in the European Green Pact and the European Biodiversity Strategy 2030.

Bulgaria has not yet designated 194 of the 229 sites of Community importance for special areas of conservation within the mandatory deadline; also, the state systematically and consistently fails to fulfill its obligation to establish site-specific conservation objectives and conservation measures. These requirements are key to the conservation of biodiversity in the EU.

In January 2019, the Commission sent a formal notification letter to Bulgaria, and in July 2020 - a reasoned opinion on the issue. It considers that the efforts made so far by the Bulgarian authorities are unsatisfactory and insufficient, and is therefore referring Bulgaria to the Court of Justice.

The creation of a pan-European network of protected natural areas - Natura 2000, is set as a goal in the Habitats Directive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC). This network should be composed of special areas of conservation for birds in accordance with the Birds Directive (Directive 2009/147 / EC). Each EU country identifies and proposes areas that are important for the conservation of species and habitats that occur naturally in its territory. The Commission subsequently accepted these areas as sites of Community importance. Within six years, the member states are required to designate any site of community importance as special areas of conservation and put in place the necessary management measures to preserve or restore the species and habitats found in them to a favourable conservation status.

Bulgaria announced a new approach to the management of the Natura 2000 network on its territory, which was presented to the Commission in 2017, but is not yet implemented. The lack of conservation objectives corresponding to the legal standard of the Habitats Directive leads to flaws in the appropriate assessments of projects affecting the Natura 2000 network, which covers nearly 35% of the territory of the country,” the Commission said in its statement.

In the period 2014-2019, there has been no progress in issuing orders for the designation of conservation areas for habitats. At present, orders for declaring 186 protected areas for habitats have been published in the State Gazette. They are entered in the public register, available on the MoEW website, section "Nature". For the remaining 43 protected areas, a Decision of the Council of Ministers was adopted this summer to change the boundaries, which the EC is expected to approve, according to the procedure.

The ministry is currently in the process of adopting pilot specific targets for two protected areas, the content of which has been consulted by international experts engaged by the EC services. The development of specific and detailed nature protection objectives for a total of 64 protected areas has been assigned, 43 of which have a development deadline of the end of November 2021.

Actions have been taken to commission the development of targets for further 22 areas. The development of the specific and detailed conservation objectives for all other areas of conservation is planned to be done within the framework of a project proposal included in the draft of the Recovery and Resilience Plan.

Чуйте последните новини, където и да сте!
Последвайте ни във Facebook и Instagram
Следете и канала на БНТ в YouTube
Вече може да ни гледате и в TikTok
Намерете ни в Google News