Triple warning from Brussels to Spain for failing to transpose European legislation

BrusselsNew warning from Brussels to Spain for not transposing up to three European regulations in Spanish legislation. The European Commission on Wednesday asked the Spanish government to implement the directive against pollution in the aviation and maritime sectors and to take action to improve cybersecurity. Furthermore, the European Commission has taken the Spanish government to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to refuse to fully implement the digital services law, which aims to prevent abuse of the dominant position held by large technology companies such as Meta, X, and Google in the European market.

Regarding the directive on the aviation and maritime sectors, the European Commission is urging Spain to transpose the amendments to the transport directives that lower emissions limits and aim to promote the decarbonization of this type of transport. This is a measure that all member states, including Spain, should have started implementing more than a year ago.

In this sense, Brussels considers that the transposition of these amendments is key to advancing the energy transition and meeting the climate goals agreed by the European Union itself, which aims to reduce polluting emissions by 55% compared to 1990 levels and achieve climate neutrality. This is important, since it represents between 2% and 3% of global carbon dioxide emissions, according to the European Commission itself.

By no means is Spain the only member state that is late. Brussels has also raised concerns for the same reason in countries such as Belgium, Finland, Portugal, and Hungary. However, if they do not apply it in the coming months, the European Commission threatens to take these states to European courts, which can fine them and force them to comply with European legislation once and for all.

Brussels takes Spain to the CJEU

In fact, Brussels took Spain to the Luxembourg court on Tuesday for another reason: its failure to fully transpose the Digital Services Act. Since February of last year, the EU executive branch has required Member States to designate an agency to ensure compliance with this regulation in each country. The only EU member state that has not done so is Poland, but other countries, such as the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Portugal, and Spain, have not granted it sufficient powers and resources to truly monitor the digital markets of their member states.

"They have failed to entrust them with the necessary powers and resources to carry out the oversight tasks granted to them by the EU Digital Services Act," reads the statement issued by the European Commission. For this reason, Brussels has denounced Spain's non-compliance with the CJEU, which must now decide whether to fine the state and what measures it should take to comply with EU law.