Action brought on 15 March 2024 – European Commission v Ireland

(Case C-204/24)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: L. Armati and E. Sanfrutos Cano, agents)

Defendant: Ireland

The applicant claims that the Court should:

declare that, by failing to correctly and fully transpose Articles 2(38), 4(2), 5(2), 7(3), 9(2), 11(3)(a), 11(3)(b), 11(3)(c), 11(3)(d), 11(3)(e), 11(3)(i), 11(3)(l), as well as Annexes II and V, of Directive 2000/60/EC¹ of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy (‘the Water Framework Directive’), Ireland has failed to fulfil its obligations under that Directive;

order Ireland to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The Water Framework Directive establishes a framework for the protection of inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater. It aims to prevent and reduce pollution, promote sustainable water use, protect and improve the aquatic environment and mitigate the effects of floods and droughts. The overall objective is to achieve good environmental status for all waters. Member States are therefore requested to draw up river basin management plans based on natural geographical river basins, as well as specific programs of measures to achieve the objectives. Two areas in particular continue to cause concern in Ireland, because of the central role they play in ensuring the effectiveness of the Directive as a whole: 1) the continued lack of clarity in Irish law in relation to whether cost recovery is appropriately considered as a water management tool in respect of all water services, i.e. also those not carried out by Irish Water, and 2) insufficiency of controls over water abstraction and on hydromorphological interventions that ensure that the impact on the ecological status of the water bodies concerned is continuously monitored. On the first point, the Commission has taken issue with the transposition of Article 2(38), 5(2) and 9(2) of the Directive. On the second point, the Commission has taken issue with the continued lack of emphasis, in Irish law, on a structured framework for monitoring and controlling activities, which could affect the ecological status of water bodies, as impacted by both abstraction and hydromorphological changes. For a Member State to ensure full and effective implementation of the Directive, it is important that the relevant environmental objectives are properly framed (Article 4), that the waters used for abstraction are properly identified (Article 7), and that there is a program of measures in place to ensure achievement of the objectives identified (Article 11). Without that framework, monitoring of the ecological status of water bodies risks being incomplete.

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¹ OJ 2000 L 327, p. 1.