Luxembourg, 17 December 2024
- Tools and procedures for enforcing EU law are gradually improving
- Over 9000 infringement cases opened between 2012 and 2023
- Only a few cases lead to financial penalties, but these do not always appear to act as a deterrent
Although the European Commission has improved the way it detects and corrects breaches of EU law, it still takes too long to close infringement cases, according to a report published today by the European Court of Auditors (ECA). Most infringement cases are resolved before the Commission proposes financial penalties, although the auditors found that some member states did not rectify breaches of EU law despite being subject to penalties for years.
The principal power conferred on the EU by its founding treaties is the power to make laws that apply to member states. Enforcing EU law requires considerable time and resources: between 2012 and 2023, the European Parliament submitted over 8 000 petitions – including those signalling breaches of EU law – to the Commission, and almost 43 000 complaints from citizens, businesses and interest groups were registered. Including cases brought by the Commission, more than 9000 infringement cases were opened between 2012 and 2023.
“While the European Commission has improved its management to detect and correct infringements of EU law, it can still take years to rectify infringements,” said Lefteris Christoforou, the ECA Member responsible for the audit. “Breaches of law must be remedied quicker to ensure equality and observance of EU common values and principles. Even though people and businesses have responsibilities stemming from EU legislation, they should be allowed to enjoy the benefits of commonly agreed rules without impediment, thus ensuring that their fundamental rights apply everywhere in the EU.”
Over the years, the Commission has committed itself to enhancing the process of enforcing EU law and has established several benchmarks to improve its management of complaints and infringement cases. Accomplishing those benchmarks has nevertheless proved to be challenging. For instance, although the time taken by the Commission to complete transposition and conformity checks (i.e. ensuring that national transposition measures cover all provisions of a directive and are fully in line with it) has decreased since 2017, half of these checks still exceeded the established time frame. The same is true of complaints, which can take months to be assessed and years to be resolved. The Commission does not systematically provide detailed information on the number of petitions it receives from the European Parliament. The way complaints and petitions are handled could be improved by introducing clear and consistent criteria that allow prioritisation or grouping, according to the auditors, who also stress that complainants are not always informed of the progress that has been made.
Informal discussions between the Commission and the member states to tackle complex cases (a procedure known as the EU Pilot) proved effective at resolving most cases without formal infringement procedures. However, average handling times can still be more than two years. when formal infringement procedures are in place, an increasing share of cases take too long to resolve (i.e. resulting in referral to the Court of Justice or closure). While most cases are resolved before the Commission proposes financial penalties, in some cases member states have not rectified breaches of EU law even if they have been subject to penalties for several years.
Despite regular and generally accurate monitoring of and reporting on EU law enforcement, the Commission does not publish information on how well it keeps to its benchmarks. Although those benchmarks are not legally binding, the auditors consider it important for the Commission to report on public indicative benchmarks, as this would improve scrutiny.
Background information
Member states are obliged to take every national legal measure necessary to apply EU law. AlthoughEU regulations are immediately applicable in all member states, directives must be transposed into national law. The Commission uses different tools and procedures to ensure that member states correctly transpose and apply EU law, and to detect and address potential breaches. When preventive measures fail and there is a suspected breach (e.g. transposition is late, partial or incorrect), the Commission may initiate infringement procedures and bring the case to the Court of Justice of the EU. Responsibility for rectifying any breaches lies with the member states.
Read the ECA Report
Read the EU Commission Replies
Related links
Source – ECA