Surfbirds News

Brussels, Belgium - The European Commission took a strong stance today by starting new and stepping up ongoing infringement proceedings against ten EU Member States for failing to implement the EU Birds Directive [1]. Together with the Habitats Directive this law forms the cornerstone of EU action to address the decline of biodiversity, which in combination with climate change is seen as the most pressing environmental problem of the 21st century. EU governments have committed to halting the loss of wildlife by 2010, and to implementing its nature legislation.

SPAs have proved important for conservation of Ferruginous Duck in Slovakia. © Nigel Blake

Konstantin Kreiser, EU Policy Manager at BirdLife International in Brussels states: “We welcome the legal actions announced today, but regret that so many governments need to be forced to turn their nice words into action. We hope the affected Member States will now speed up their efforts to comply with EU legislation. We need healthy and diverse ecosystems to ensure long-term economic development. After all, this is about the well-being of Europeans!”

The Commission decided today to take Germany, Austria and Poland to the European Court of Justice because of insufficient designation of Special Protection Areas (SPAs) as required by the Birds Directive. It was also decided to send first warning letters on the same issue to eight more countries that joined the EU in 2004. This means, that apart from Estonia, all the new Member States from the 2004 round are in legal trouble on bird protection. Cyprus will receive a first warning letter related to bird hunting.