Birds and Habitats Directive: a public consultation to assess whether the objectives are achieved

The European Commission launches a public consultation on the Birds and the Habitats Directive, as part of its wider simplification initiative to strengthen EU competitiveness while continuing to safeguard environmental, economic and social goals, announced the institution on 12/05/2026.

Stakeholders, such as citizens, NGOs, trade union, public authorities or environmental regulatory bodies, including administrations at local and regional levels, are invited to fill an online questionnaire, available until 04/08/2026.

The contributions will feed into the stress-test, announced in December 2025. It aims to :
• "assess whether the Directives achieve their objectives to protect nature in the EU and do so in a cost-efficient way ;
• also identify opportunities to reduce unnecessary administrative burden while maintaining the directives' ambition and high standards of nature protection".

The European Commission specifies that the stress-test is conducted "in close cooperation with Member States and stakeholders, and will build on the results of the 2016 Fitness Check of the Directives". The…