The European Commission published during last week, the first ever comprehensive overview of how EU environmental policies and laws are applied on the ground. It shows that environmental policies work but that there are big gaps in how these rules and policies are put into practice across Europe. The most pressing implementation gaps across EU Member States are found in the policy fields of waste management, nature and biodiversity, air quality, noise and water quality and management.

The European Implementation Review package (adopted the 3rd February 2017) includes:

28 country reports which map national strengths, opportunities and weaknesses. The reports and factsheets are available in the link http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eir/country-reports/index_en.htm

A Communication identifying common challenges across countries and how to combine efforts to deliver better results: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eir/pdf/comm_en.pdf

An Annex to the Communication that summarises suggested actions for improvement for all EU Member States: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eir/pdf/comm_annex_en.pdf

The report that refers to the implementation of the environmental policy and laws in Greece, is available in the following link: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eir/pdf/report_el_el.pdf