Filenews 10 June 2021 - by Angelos Nikolaou
A total of 18 Member States, including Cyprus, did not take measures to protect the environment from invasive alien species and the Commission therefore sent each of those Member States a letter of formal notice, giving them two months to respond and take the necessary measures. If there is no satisfactory reply, the Commission may decide to send a reasoned opinion.
In particular, the Commission invites Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia to transpose various provisions of Regulation (EU) No 1782/2003. 1143/2014 on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species.
The European Green Agreement and the European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 both highlight the importance for the EU of halting the loss of biodiversity by protecting natural sites and restoring damaged ecosystems to good ecological status.
Invasive alien species are plants and animals that, due to human intervention, settle in areas outside their natural field, spreading rapidly and ostracizing native species, with serious environmental and economic impacts. These 18 Member States have not prepared, implemented or communicated to the Commission an action plan (or package of action plans) to address the most important routes of inadvertent introduction and spread of invasive alien species of concern in the EU. Furthermore, Bulgaria, Greece and Romania have not established a surveillance system for invasive alien species of concern in the EU, nor have they included such a system in their existing system.
Greece and Romania have not set up fully operational structures to carry out the official controls needed to prevent the voluntary introduction of species of concern into the EU. Portugal did not provide an implementation report.
Three species of animals and three species of plants appear in the natural environment of Cyprus and are included in the list of invasive alien species entered in the Union list issued under the Regulation.
In the inland waters of Cyprus, at least 3 invasive fish species have been recorded as well as other aquatic organisms that have been introduced voluntarily or unintentionally and have been installed in the environment of Cyprus with negative consequences for local biodiversity through competition, hunting or diversification of the food chain. As far as the marine environment is concerned, 6 invasive species have been recorded.
