Brussels (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The European Commission stated that it has chosen to refer Bulgaria to the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) in three continuous infringement proceedings as part of its latest infringement package.
What are the three infringement cases against Bulgaria?
In the first case, the EU Commission stated that Bulgaria failed to accurately transpose EU regulations on the right to information in criminal proceedings, outlined in Directive 2012/13/EU, which had a transposition finishing date of June 2014.
Despite first being informed of the issue in September 2021, Bulgaria has still not fully handled the EU Commission’s concerns such as the inaccurate transposition of the scope of the directive for persons who are de facto supposed to have committed a criminal offence.
Why is Bulgaria’s transposition of EU directives being challenged?
In the second case, Bulgaria was directed to the ECJ to specify the maximum duration of the provision of temporary cross-border social services, in breach of the Services Directive 2006/123/EC and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The EC stated in a statement that member states were not permitted to set a maximum duration for temporary benefits such as consulting or advocacy services, community work, therapy and restoration, skills training and care assistance. However, Bulgaria disregarded EU rules by legally restricting such services to a period of six months per year, the EU Commission stated.
Why is Bulgaria’s transposition of EU directives being challenged?
In the third case, the EU Commission stated that it was referring Bulgaria to the ECJ for failing to report the transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/882, also understood as the European Accessibility Act, despite being directed to do so by June 2022. The EC stated that Bulgaria had announced the intent to table a draft bill in its National Assembly in December 2023, but was yet to propose a formal notification of doing so.
This takes the total of violation cases concerning Bulgaria referred by the European Commission to the European Court of Justice to four, including also made a referral to ECJ for Bulgaria’s neglect to fully finalise the modification of river basin management plans in February. It also referred seven cases to the ECJ in 2023, on topics ranging from victims’ rights and biodiversity to renewable energy regulations and open data use.
What other infringement cases were recently extended against Bulgaria?
As part of its July violations package, the EU Commission said that it extended four new infringement cases against Bulgaria for failing to completely transpose into national law the provisions of the modified EU Emissions Trading System Directive; failing to satisfy waste collection and recycling targets, in violation of the Waste Framework Directive; failing to transpose the amendments to the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive; and failing to correctly apply specific provisions of the Single European Sky performance and charging scheme for air navigation services.
