Luxembourg, 11/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Court of Justice took up again this week after the summer break and announced in a press release that it had convicted three Member States (France, Germany and Ireland) of non-respect of the Directive on the conservation of natural habitats, and wild fauna and flora. The Court explained that the three countries in question had failed to communicate within the required deadlines the list of sites containing specific types of habitat.
The press release explained that EU law aimed to protect biodiversity in the European Union and that this aim could only be achieved by setting up an ecological network of special conservation zones to protect the habitats of endangered species in the European Union (the Natura 2000 network). It added that with this in mind, every Member State must draw up a list of sites that are special conservation zones and must provide the Commission with the proposed lists of sites of EU importance, along with information about the sites.