Filenews 10 June 2021 - by Angelos Nikolaou
The Commission decided yesterday to send a letter of formal notice to Cyprus, since the Republic of Cyprus has not taken the necessary measures to protect and manage the Natura 2000 network areas. Cyprus has two months to reply to the letter and take the necessary measures, otherwise the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion.
On 28/5/2021, "F" had revealed a letter from the Legal Service calling on the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment to take all steps to be able to respond to the letter of formal notice sent yesterday. Obviously, the Legal Service was seeing the systemic and continuous infringement of EU law on nature conservation on the part of the Republic. In a statement, the Ministry of Agriculture was quick to reply to "F", ignoring that the article in "F" entitled "Campanaki for mismanagement of Natura areas" essentially presented a letter from the Legal Service to the Ministry of Agriculture. In fact, in its reply, the Ministry of Agriculture presented the overall picture on the issues of the management of the Natura 2000 Network in Cyprus, giving evidence and underlining that: "Significant progress has been made in the management of the Areas of the Network".
In fact, the letter of formal notice is the second stage of the Commission. It was preceded by a letter dated 14/10/2016 indicating to the Republic of Cyprus a possible infringement procedure (EU Pilot). The Legal Service notes that the file was opened in October 2016 and most of the necessary actions committed by the Republic of Cyprus are still pending.
It is noted that in March 2021 the competent services of the Commission informed the counterparts of the Republic of Cyprus, that the relevant file opened in 2016 and will proceed to the next stage of the process. The Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment estimates that significant progress has been made in recent years, something Brussels expects Brussels to recognise and not sanction the Republic of Cyprus.
At the bilateral meeting held by the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment with the Commission last March, an update was given on the progress of the Decrees and three draft Opinions of the Scientific Committee were given for comments and opinions. At that meeting, the EU said it recognised the progress made, but because the EU Pilot dossier has been open since 2016, they are obliged to move on to the next stage of the process.
A technical meeting between the relevant departments and the Commission was also requested for an exchange of views. This meeting is expected to take place at the end of June.
The Commission yesterday called on Cyprus to take measures to protect and manage Natura 2000 networks and thus to fulfil its obligations under the Habitats Directive (Directive 92/43/EEC). In accordance with the Habitats Directive, Member States should propose Eu sites of Community importance, which are then added to lists of EU biogeographical areas. Within six years of inclusion in these lists, Member States should classify sites of Community importance as specific conservation areas, establish conservation objectives and measures to maintain or restore to a satisfactory conservation status the protected species and habitats found in the sites in order to achieve a satisfactory conservation status at national biogeographical level. These are key conditions for protecting biodiversity across the EU.
The European Green Agreement and the European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 both highlight the crucial importance for the EU of halting the loss of biodiversity by protecting natural sites and restoring damaged ecosystems to a satisfactory conservation status.
