Enforcing EU law – The Commission has improved its management of infringement cases, but closing them still takes too long

Summary:

The Commission is responsible for overseeing the application of EU law by member states and to enforce compliance. The objective of our audit was to assess whether the Commission’s management ensured timely detection, follow-up, appropriate monitoring and reporting of infringement cases. We conclude that the Commission has improved its management to detect and correct infringements of EU law, but it still takes too long to close infringement cases. The Commission regularly monitors and reports on EU law enforcement but adherence to benchmarks is neither improving nor reported. We recommend that the Commission should improve planning and documentation of checks, improve handling of complaints, petitions and informal dialogues; reinforce its infringement case and sanctions; and strengthen its monitoring and reporting.

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