Case C-141/14: Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 14 January 2016 — European Commission v Republic of Bulgaria (Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Directive 2009/147/EC — Conservation of wild birds — Kaliakra and Belite Skali special protection areas — Directive 92/43/EEC — Conservation of natural habitats and wild species — Kompleks Kaliakra site of Community importance — Directive 2011/92/EU — Assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment — Temporal applicability of the system of protection — Deterioration of natural habitats of species and disturbance of species — Wind power — Tourism)
Date: 2016-01-14
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: Blagoevgrad region, Dobrich region, Silistra region, biotope, infringement of EU law, protected area, protection of animal life, tourism, wind energy








C_2016098EN.01000401.xml










14.3.2016   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 98/4





Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 14 January 2016 — European Commission v Republic of Bulgaria
(Case C-141/14) (1)

((Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations - Directive 2009/147/EC - Conservation of wild birds - Kaliakra and Belite Skali special protection areas - Directive 92/43/EEC - Conservation of natural habitats and wild species - Kompleks Kaliakra site of Community importance - Directive 2011/92/EU - Assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment - Temporal applicability of the system of protection - Deterioration of natural habitats of species and disturbance of species - Wind power - Tourism))
(2016/C 098/04)
Language of the case: Bulgarian

Parties


Applicant: European Commission (represented by: E. White, C. Hermes and P. Mihaylova, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Republic of Bulgaria (represented by: E. Petranova and D. Drambozova, acting as Agents)

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Declares that:






—


by failing to include all the territories of the important bird areas in the special protection area covering the Kaliakra region, the Republic of Bulgaria has failed to classify as special protection areas the most suitable territories in number and size for the conservation, first, of the biological species listed in Annex I to Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds and, secondly, of the migratory species not listed in that annex but regularly occurring in the geographical sea and land area where that directive applies, with the result that that Member State has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 4(1) and (2) of that directive;










—


by approving the implementation of the projects ‘AES Geo Energy’, ‘Disib’ and ‘Longman Investment’ in the territory of the important bird area covering the Kaliakra region which was not classified as a special protection area, although it should have been, the Republic of Bulgaria has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 4(4) of Directive 2009/147;










—


by approving the implementation of the projects ‘Kaliakra Wind Power’, ‘EVN Enertrag Kavarna’ and ‘Vertikal — Petkov & Cie’, and of the ‘Thracian Cliffs Golf & Spa Resort’, in the territory of the special protection areas covering the regions of Kaliakra and Belite Skali respectively, the Republic of Bulgaria has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 6(2) of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora;










—


by failing, first, to assess properly the cumulative effect of the projects ‘Windtech’, ‘Brestiom’, ‘Eco Energy’ and ‘Longman Investment’ in the territory of the important bird area covering the Kaliakra region which was not classified as a special protection area, although it should have been, and, secondly, by none the less authorising the implementation of the ‘Longman Investment’ project, the Republic of Bulgaria has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 4(2) and (3) of Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment and point 1(b) of Annex III to that directive, and under Article 2(1) of that directive, respectively;














2.


Dismisses the action as to the remainder;










3.


Orders the Republic of Bulgaria to pay the costs.






(1)  OJ C 159, 26.5.2014.