Spain - Implementation process for environmental protection

The Spanish Constitution (1978) provides for the exclusive competence of the State (national Parliament and Government) to approve basic legislation for environmental protection without detriment to the competence of the Autonomous Communities to establish additional protection measures and to develop the basis legislation.

Spain’s public administration is highly decentralised. This is illustrated by the proportion of spending managed by regional and local governments. This is even more accentuated in the field of the environment.Most of the environmental implementation competences belong to the regions, although the central administration has still important powers in fields like water management in rivers flowing through different regions and coastal protection. The local authorities also play an important role in fields like waste management, air quality or sustainable urban development. Environmental policy developments in Spain are mainly driven by EU Directives and Regulations. During the last decade, there has been progress in transposing EU environmental Directives faster. The Commission has traditionally received a very high number of environmental complaints against Spain. Overall, the Spanish authorities cooperate closely with the Commission to solve the pending issues concerning the implementation of environmental law199. The number of infringements has decreased during the last few years. However, significant gaps in implementation remain in sectors such as wastewater and waste. During the last years, there has been some progress in Spain to streamline and improve the efficiency of the different public administrations. At the same time, because of the economic crisis, the public sector has suffered large cuts in resources, which have affected the environmental sector as well. The various public administrations involved in implementing environmental law have different levels of financial and human resources at their disposal to undertake their tasks. It can be highlighted as a good and innovative practice the exercise conducted by the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country that has carried out the evaluation report on the implementation of the regional environmental strategy 2020, following the model of the Commission’s 2017 EIR. This has also stimulated the knowledge and the debate on the ground about environmental implementation issues

Source: The EU Environmental Implementation Review 2019 Country Report - SPAIN. Brussels, 4.4.2019SWD(2019) 132 final.

Link: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/eir/pdf/report_es_en.pdf