Source: European Parliament
The Commission does not envisage the establishment of a body with tasks as suggested by the Honourable Member.
The Member States have the primary responsibility to monitor the application of the relevant legal provisions, including to ensure the compliance of national projects with applicable EU requirements.
In accordance with Article 9a of the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive[1], it is up to the Member States to ensure that the competent authorities perform any duties under that directive in an objective manner and do not find themselves in situations of conflict of interest.
Article 9a also provides that where the competent authority is also the developer, Member States shall at least implement, within their organisation of administrative competences, an appropriate separation between conflicting functions when performing the duties arising from this directive. In its role as guardian of the Treaties, the Commission will continue monitoring the situation and may decide to take appropriate action.
The Commission aims to swiftly follow up on systemic issues involving the application of EU law in EU countries. However, one-off instances of this are better dealt with at national level, as long as there are available remedies, including judicial ones. In these cases, it is up to the national courts to apply and enforce citizen rights under EU law.
- [1] Directive 2011/92/EU on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, OJ L 26, 28.1.2011, as amended by Directive 2014/52/EU, OJ L 124, 25.4.2014.