Holding governments to account for not putting in place EU laws is taking too long, the EU’s own watchdog has warned.
EU laws are passed jointly by the European Parliament and by governments in the Council of the EU. And yet sometimes governments do not follow through with their promises.
Once an EU law has passed, it can take years for it to come into effect. This is often designed to give member states enough time to prepare.
But sometimes they do not.
It is up to the European Commission to uphold the law. It is often referred to in Brussels as the “guardian of the treaties”, a reference to its role of seeing that EU laws come into effect.
When laws are not put in place fully, the European Commission can take, or threaten to take, member states to court.
But the European Court of Auditors (ECA), the EU’s watchdog, has warned that this process can take far too long.
“While the European Commission has improved its management to detect and correct infringements of EU law, it can still take years to rectify infringements,” said ECA auditor, Lefteris Christoforou.
In one case involving Ireland, it took four years to be resolved. But this was considered a rare example where deadlines were met.
Another case involving Italy took more than ten years. Another involving France began in 2013, but is yet to be resolved.
The European Commission currently has 82 cases outstanding against Ireland. In most cases, these will be resolved before the EU resorts to court action.
In response to the report, the European Commission said it has taken on board most of the recommendations from the ECA to bring member states “into compliance with EU law”.
However, it rejected the suggestion that the EU could be more transparent. “The [European] Commission is already publishing a vast amount of information and data on its enforcement actions”, it said.