The European Commission launched a public consultation today (12 May) on the Birds and Habitats Directives, with contributions feeding into a stress test of both.
It is part of the Commission’s wider simplification initiative to strengthen EU competitiveness while continuing to safeguard environmental, economic and social goals.
The EU Nature Directives protect birds and habitats in the EU, contributing to Europe’s resilience and implementing international commitments. Announced in December 2025, the stress test aims to assess whether the directives achieve their objectives to protect nature in the EU and do so in a cost-efficient way.
The stress test will also identify opportunities to reduce unnecessary administrative burden while maintaining the directives’ ambition and high standards of nature protection.
To support Member States and reduce administrative burden, the Commission already published two guidance documents at the end of March 2026 – on Natura 2000 and climate change and on certain provisions of the Birds Directive. This comes on top of the Natura 2000 and fishing guidelines published in October 2025.
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.
We encourage citizens and stakeholders to participate in this public consultation, which is open until 4 August.
