02/07/2020 (Agence Europe) – The European Commission referred Bulgaria to the European Court of Justice (CJEU) on Thursday 2 July for failing to meet its reporting obligations under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56). The Directive requires Member States to submit a report to the European Commission by 15 October 2018 at the latest regarding updates on their initial assessments of their marine waters and on their definition of good environmental status (the set of characteristics that they consider to relate to good environmental status of their marine waters) and environmental targets. Despite the Commission sending a letter of formal notice to the Bulgarian authorities in March 2019, however, as well as a reasoned opinion in October 2019, Bulgaria has so far failed to submit its reports. (DG)