Today, the European Commission decided to refer Bulgaria to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to transpose in its national legislation EU rules setting minimum national targets for the public procurement of clean vehicles (Directive (EU) 2019/1161).
In the case of Bulgaria, the Directive requires at least 17.6% of all light-duty vehicles, 7% of all trucks and 34% of all urban buses procured between 2 August 2021 and 31 December 2025 to be clean vehicles, and at least 17% of all urban buses procured in the same period to have zero emissions at tailpipe.
The deadline for transposition of the Directive was 2 August 2021. The lack of transposition risks jeopardising Bulgaria's achievement of procurement targets for the period 2021-2025. This would in turn result in a slower rollout of clean vehicles, in addition to higher greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions. The Commission addressed a letter of formal notice to Bulgaria on 30 September 2021 and sent a reasoned opinion on 6 April 2022. Since Bulgaria remains in breach of the Directive, the Commission has now decided to refer the case to the Court, with a request to impose financial sanctions.
Background
The Clean Vehicles Directive sets national targets for the public procurement of clean vehicles. The targets are set as a minimum share of clean vehicles within the total number of publicly procured vehicles by a Member State during the reference periods 2021-2025 and 2026-2030. Separate targets are set for cars and vans, lorries, and buses, with a specific sub-target for zero-emission buses. The Directive gives Member States full flexibility to decide how the effort is distributed within their territory.
The Directive mobilises public procurement to accelerate the rollout of clean vehicles, contributing to the decarbonisation of the transport sector and to the improvement of air quality in EU cities, while providing stable demand and long-term certainty to vehicle manufacturers, transport operators and investors.
