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EC calls on Romania to take necessary steps to protect and manage its Natura 2000 sites

July 17, 2025

The European Commission (EC) on Wednesday decided to send a reasoned opinion to Romania for failing to comply with the Habitats Directive (Directive 92/43/EEC), according to a press statement released by the commission.Under the Habitats Directive, member states must propose sites of community importance, which will become part of the EU-wide Natura 2000 network. After a site has been endorsed by the European Commission, the member state has six years to designate it as a Special Area of Conservation and to establish conservation objectives and measures that will maintain or restore the protected species and habitats to a favourable conservation status.These are key requirements to manage the Natura 2000 network and to protect biodiversity across the EU. On 2 July 2020, the European Commission sent a letter of formal notice to Romania for failing to designate 382 sites of community importance as Special Areas of Conservation.The commission also found that Romania failed to set site-specific detailed conservation objectives for these sites. Since then, Romania has designated 213 Special Areas of Conservation, while 169 sites remain undesignated. Additionally, 16 sites do not have site-specific conservation objectives, and 208 sites have incomplete site-specific conservation objectives.Also, the conservation measures for 10 sites are too general to ensure an adequate protection of the habitats and species for which these have been designated.Therefore, the commission has decided to issue a reasoned opinion to Romania, which now has two months to respond and take the necessary measures. Otherwise, the Commission may decide to refer the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

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