The number of infringement cases opened by the Commission remains broadly stable in the EU in 2019, but the number of new infringement proceedings has risen sharply by more than 20% compared to 2018, according to the European Commission’s latest Enforcement Report published on Friday 31 July.
In 2019, the European Commission launched 797 new infringement proceedings and sent 316 reasoned opinions. Trends differ between Member States. Lithuania (27), Estonia (30) and Denmark (31) have the lowest number of open procedures, while Spain (85), Greece (85) and Italy (77) are the worst performers in the Union. Germany is the subject of 70 proceedings, France has 59. Poland has 74 infringement proceedings open against it and Hungary 66.
Bulgaria, Belgium, Greece and Cyprus recorded the highest number of new infringement proceedings against them concerning late transposition, while Denmark, Italy and Lithuania recorded the lowest numbers.
More than half of the infringement proceedings concerned the late transposition of directives, the institution says, although the number is slightly down from 419 in 2018 to 406 in 2019. In comparison, the highest number of new procedures was recorded in 2016 (847 procedures).
Furthermore, the Commission explains that infringement proceedings in half of the cases concern the environment (327 proceedings), followed by the internal market (241) and transport and mobility (203).
To consult the report: https://bit.ly/3ghVOaV (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)