The European Court of Auditors (ECA) is calling on the EU Commission to shore up Europe’s recycling markets and to use enforcement to spur compliance with waste management and recycling targets for municipal waste. In a newly released special report (23/2025), the Court warns that implementation has not kept pace with developments in EU legislation due to persistent weaknesses in planning, infrastructure investment and economic incentives.
Against the backdrop of disappointing progress towards EU waste targets revealed by the Commission's early warning reports, the Court examined whether the EU legal initiatives and enforcement were fit for purpose and whether projects co-financed with EU funds have been implemented well.
As part of its assessment, the ECA carried out in-depth analyses of waste management systems in Greece, Poland, Portugal and Romania. The member states were selected because they were previously found to be at risk of non-compliance with EU targets, but also because of the scale of Cohesion Fund waste project spending in these countries in the 2014-2020 period. Based on the results of these analyses, the Court has made three recommendations to the Commission....
