Portugal fined £8.7m by EU court for failing to protect biodiversity

Original article by Lisa O’Carroll

Portugal has been fined €10m (£8.7m) by the EU’s court of justice for failing to comply with environmental laws that require it to protect biodiversity. It has also been ordered to pay €41,250 a day until it complies with a previous court order made in 2019.

The court said it was imposing the maximum fine possible to “encourage” Portugal to bring the infringement to an end.

The daily fine corresponds to a penalty of €750 for each of the 55 sites that the court said had “still not been protected” despite Lisbon having been ordered seven years ago to comply with EU laws. The fine will be reduced by €750 a day per site that is brought into compliance.

The court said in a statement: “The court considers that these are particularly serious infringements of EU environmental law, in which Portugal has persisted.

“Given that Portugal’s territory hosts rich biodiversity, including 99 habitat types and 335 species covered by the habitats directive, what is at stake for the European Union’s common heritage there is especially important.

“In view of this, as well as the considerable duration of the infringement and Portugal’s capacity to pay, the court sets the amount of the lump sum at €10m.”

The European Commission has battled for years to try to force Portugal to conserve and protect habitats and species in areas that should have been designated for conservation under the EU habitats directive.

Under EU law, sites of “community importance for the Atlantic biogeographic region” include Peneda-Gerês, Portugal’s only national park, the natural park Litoral Norte and the Minho and Lima rivers.

Also included are Valongo, home to rare fern species and an important site for the golden-striped salamander, the Serra D’Arga mountain range and Corno do Bico, a protected landscape, records show.

Lisbon was ordered by the court to comply with the EU habitats directive in a case brought by the European Commission in 2019 after allegations it had failed to designate sites of community importance as special areas of conservation (SAC).

Under the directive, countries had to designate SAC sites that needed protection within six years, with accompanying measures to protect rare habitats and species.

In 2019 the court found that Portugal had failed to fulfil its obligations to designate 61 areas under the Atlantic and Mediterranean biogeographical biodiversity classification.

A spokesperson for the Portuguese government said that the litigation went back 30 years and spanned 12 governments, but that last April the government launched “an intensive legislative process that allowed rapid progress in the designation of SACs and the approval of management plans”.

“Very little remains to be done for the work to be completed and for Portugal to fully comply with the obligations arising from the habitats directive.”