European Commission takes Bulgaria to ECJ over emission reduction commitments
The European Commission said on November 21 that it has decided to refer Bulgaria to the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) over its failure to meet emission reduction commitments for air pollutants, as required by the directive on the reduction of national emissions of certain atmospheric pollutants (Directive (EU) 2016/2284)
As part of its latest infringements package, the EC said that Bulgaria failed to meet its commitment for reducing the emissions of ammonia, prompting the decision to refer Bulgaria to the ECJ.
This takes the number of ECJ referrals of infringement cases against Bulgaria to six this year, following six other cases referred to the court last year and seven more referred to the ECJ in 2023.
In its November infringements package, the Commission also opened three new infringement proceeding against Bulgaria, sending letters of formal notice, the first stage in the infringement process
Two of those cases referred to failure to implement the provisions of directives whose deadlines expired in recent months, specifically EU’s updated rules on energy efficiency (Directive (EU) 2023/1791) and the amended rules on markets in financial instruments (Directive (EU) 2024/790).
The third case concerned Bulgaria’s failure to correctly transpose EU rules on legal aid in criminal proceedings (Directive (EU) 2016/1919).
The EC said that Bulgaria had two months to reply to the letters of formal notice and complete the transposition of EU rules in those areas, otherwise the Commission may decide to take the cases into the second stage of the infringement process by issuing a reasoned opinion.
(Entrance to the Berlaymont building, headquarters of the European Commission. Photo: EU Audiovisual Service)
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