December infringement package: main decisions for Spain

In its regular package of infringement decisions, the European Commission pursues legal action against Member States for failing to comply with their obligations under EU law. These decisions, covering various sectors and EU policy areas, aim to ensure the proper application of EU law for the benefit of citizens and businesses.

The key decisions taken by the Commission are presented below and grouped by policy area. In this package the Commission is also closing 176 cases in which the issues with the Member States concerned have been solved without the Commission needing to pursue the procedure further.

Water: Commission refers SPAIN to the Court of Justice for its failure to comply with the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive

Yesterday, the European Commission decided to refer Spain (INFR(2012)2100) to the Court of Justice of the European Union for its failure to fully comply with the collection and treatment obligations set in the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. The Directive aims to protect people’s health and the environment by requiring that urban waste water is collected and treated before discharge. Untreated waste water can put human health at risk and pollute lakes, rivers, soil, and coastal and groundwater. Information gathered by the Commission has shown widespread failures to comply with the Directive in Spain. In the case of 29 agglomerations, Spain still needs to ensure that they benefit from wastewater collection systems and that, where the use of individual or other appropriate systems is justified, they achieve the same level of environmental protection of a collecting system. For 225 agglomerations, Spain is still failing to provide the entire agglomerations’ pollution load with the required treatment level and/or fails to meet the treatment performance for the discharges into the environment after treatment. This means that there are agglomerations where infrastructure needs to be built or improved. This may require substantial efforts in building out new physical infrastructure or upgrading already existing treatment facilities. The Commission sent a letter of formal notice to Spain in June 2012, followed by a reasoned opinion in February 2015 and an additional reasoned opinion in June 2021. Despite some progress, the Spanish authorities have not yet fully addressed the grievances. Therefore, the Commission is referring Spain to the Court of Justice of the European Union. More information is in the press release.

More information: Press release – European Commission