On 9 June, the Commission published the June infringement package. In this package, the European Commission decides to pursue legal action against Member States which have been found to be incompliant with their obligation under EU law in various policy areas.
On the topic of biodiversity, the Commission found 18 Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia) incompliant with various provisions of Regulation 1143/2014 on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species. These species become established in areas outside their natural origin because of human action, and they risk out-competing native species, resulting in serious economic and environmental consequences. In particular, these countries failed to establish, implement and communicate to the Commission an action plan to address unintentional introduction and spread of invasive alien species of concern for the EU.
The Commission has, therefore, decided to send each Member State a letter of formal notice giving them two months to respond to the letter and take the necessary measures. The procedure provides that, in absence of satisfactory justification from the Member States, the Commission may send a reasoned opinion, formally requesting the country to comply with EU law within two months. If the country still fails to comply, the Commission can refer the matter to the Court of Justice.
More information on the infringement procedure can be found here.