Many EU countries have dragged their feat in transposing EU laws onto their national statute books, or have done so incorrectly, said EU environment commissioner Margot Wallstrom, whose five-year mandate ends in October.

"During my mandate, I have been struck by the high number of complaints about non-compliance with EU environmental law that we have received from citizens, non-governmental organizations and the Parliament," she said.

By the end of 2003 there were 88 cases of green laws not being transposed on time, while in 118 cases they were not correctly transposed. Most shortcomings concerned water, waste, nature protection and environmental impact assessments.

France, with 38 failures, gets the worst score, followed by Italy on 33, Ireland on 29, Greece on 26 and Spain on 25. At the other end of the scale are Denmark and Sweden.

"This survey shows that these concerns are justified: implementation of EU environmental law is bad. I hope the survey's findings will give Member States reason to improve their record and provide their citizens with the level of environmental protection that they demand," said Wallstrom.

TERRA.WIRE