European Commission v United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Date: 2018-10-18
39


It should be noted that, according to the Court’s settled case-law, the subject matter of an action under Article 258 TFEU for failure to fulfil obligations is determined by the Commission’s reasoned opinion, so that the action must be based on the same grounds and pleas as that opinion (judgments of 8 July 2010, Commission v Portugal, C‑171/08, EU:C:2010:412, paragraph 25, and of 5 April 2017, Commission v Bulgaria, C‑488/15, EU:C:2017:267, paragraph 37).
40


It is also apparent from the Court’s case-law that the question of whether a Member State has failed to fulfil its obligations must be determined by reference to the situation prevailing in the Member State at the end of the period laid down in the reasoned opinion (see judgments of 4 September 2014, Commission v Greece, C‑351/13, not published, EU:C:2014:2150, paragraph 20 and of 5 April 2017, Commission v Bulgaria, C‑488/15, EU:C:2017:267, paragraph 40).
44


In any event, in accordance with the case-law referred to in paragraph 40 above, that second site proposal will not be taken into account in the Court’s assessment of the alleged failure to fulfil obligations (see, by analogy, judgment of 10 November 2016, Commission v Greece, C‑504/14, EU:C:2016:847, paragraph 69).
58


It should be noted that the first sub-paragraph of Article 3(1) of the Habitats Directive provides for the establishment of a coherent European ecological network of SACs, under the title Natura 2000, composed of sites hosting the natural habitat types listed in Annex I to that directive and habitats of the species listed in Annex II to that directive, such as the harbour porpoise, the subject matter of the present action.
59


Article 3(2) of the Habitats Directive requires Member States to contribute to the creation of the Natura 2000 network in proportion to the representation, within their respective territories, of those natural habitat types and those habitats of species and, to that effect, to designate, in accordance with Article 4 of that directive and based on the procedure established by it, sites as SACs.
62


In this regard, the Court has already noted on several occasions that, in order to produce a draft list of SCIs, capable of leading to the creation of a coherent European ecological network of SACs, the Commission must have available an exhaustive list of the sites which, at national level, have an ecological interest which is relevant from the point of view of the Habitat Directive’s objective of conserving natural habitats and wild fauna and flora (see, inter alia, judgments of 7 November 2000, First Corporate Shipping, C‑371/98, EU:C:2000:600, paragraph 22, and of 11 September 2001, Commission v France, C‑220/99, EU:C:2001:434, paragraph 31).
63


Moreover, only in that way is it possible to realise the objective, set out in the first subparagraph of Article 3(1) of the Habitats Directive, of maintaining or restoring the natural habitat types and the species’ habitats concerned at a favourable conservation status in their natural range, which may lie across one or more frontiers inside the European Union. It follows from Article 1(e) and (i) of the directive, read in conjunction with Article 2(1) of the directive, that the favourable conservation status of a natural habitat or a species must be assessed in relation to the entire European territory of the Member States to which the Treaty applies (judgment of 11 September 2001, Commission v Germany, C‑71/99, EU:C:2001:433, paragraph 28).