The EU Court of Justice has levied a €10 million (£8.7 million) penalty on Portugal for neglecting environmental statutes that require the protection of biodiversity, and it has ordered the country to pay €41,250 each day until it complies with a 2019 court ruling.
The tribunal said it was applying the highest possible fine to “encourage” Portugal to end the breach.
The daily charge equates to €750 for each of the 55 locations the court identified as “still unprotected” despite a directive issued to Lisbon seven years ago to observe EU regulations. The amount will be lowered by €750 per day for every site that achieves compliance.
In a statement the court noted: “These constitute especially serious violations of EU environmental law, which Portugal has continued to ignore. Given that Portugal’s territory harbours rich biodiversity, including 99 habitat types and 335 species covered by the habitats directive, the stakes for the Union’s shared natural heritage are considerable. In light of the prolonged infringement and Portugal’s ability to pay, the court sets the lump‑sum fine at €10 million.”
The European Commission has spent years urging Portugal to conserve and safeguard habitats and species in areas that should have been designated under the EU habitats directive.
Under EU legislation, sites of “community importance for the Atlantic biogeographic region” comprise Peneda‑Gerês, the nation’s sole national park; the Litoral Norte natural park and the Minho and Lima rivers, among others.
The list also includes Valongo, noted for rare fern species and a key location for the golden‑striped salamander, the Serra D’Arga mountain range and Corno do Bico, a protected landscape, according to records.
Lisbon was instructed by the court to implement the EU habitats directive in a case brought by the European Commission in 2019 after accusations that it had not designated sites of community importance as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC).
The directive required member states to name SAC sites needing protection within six years and to adopt measures for the preservation of rare habitats and species.
In 2019 the court concluded that Portugal had not fulfilled its duty to designate 61 areas under the Atlantic and Mediterranean biogeographical biodiversity classifications.
Read next
South African president labels Trump’s plan to shelter white Afrikaners as racist
South Africa’s head of state Cyril Ramaphosa has labelled Donald Trump’s plan to let white Afrikaners seek refugee status in the United States “racist,” adding that the American president was “truly uninformed,” a rare moment of outright censure.
Ramaphosa told the New York Times that the Oval Office
Senators call for probe after the ninth American is killed by Israeli settlers or soldiers in the West Bank.
More than 30 U.S. senators have signed a letter urging the Trump administration to launch an independent probe into the February killing of a 19‑year‑old American in the occupied West Bank, the ninth U.S. citizen killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers since 2022.
The petition, headed
Three men deported by the US sue Eswatini over their detention
Three men who were deported by the United States to Eswatini – rather than to their own nations – have lodged a complaint against the Eswatini government with the African Union’s human‑rights commission, alleging that their detention breaches their rights.
Two of the complainants, a Cuban national and a Yemeni