Press Release: Environment: Spain risking fines over failures to comply with nature conservation laws

The European Commission warned Spain about two breaches of environmental legislation. The first case, which could result in Court action, concerned a failure to assess the environmental impact of open-cast mining in a Natura 2000 conservation area in Castille-León, which is home to a number of threatened species such as brown bears and capercaillie, both of which are protected under European law. The second case concerned a failure to designate and protect a number of natural areas in the Canary Islands, one of the biodiversity hotspots of the EU, home to numerous endemic species found nowhere else in the world.