Updated Analysis of EU Member States’ 2022 Measures Reports

This study extends the earlier JRC review of the second MSFD Programmes of Measures (Article 13) by incorporating the electronic submissions of five late-reporting Member States (MS)—BG, DK, EL, HR and MT. Their inclusion expands the coverage from 17 to all 22 EU coastal countries, delivering the full picture of the MSFD measures across the European Union. This assessment, like the earlier edition, relies solely on the structured fields of the MSFD e-reporting templates and does not examine the narrative descriptions of individual measures. The addition of BG, DK, EL, HR and MT raises the dataset from 2046 to 2383 unique measures across the EU, but the headline messages are unchanged: every marine region, Descriptor and pressure is covered, yet many entries lack the specificity and metrics needed to show clear progress towards achieving Good Environmental Status (GES). The exercise again underlines the MSFD’s role as the main legal driver for new action, while revealing that mixed terminology and missing metrics still hamper evaluation. Harmonized guidance, common definitions and EU-wide measure templates remain essential to improve consistency, comparability and effectiveness across all MS. Prepared to inform the European Commission’s assessment of the second PoMs from the five late-reporting MS, this expanded analysis also feeds technical discussions on measures, future harmonised reporting and the potential MSFD review, thereby guiding the overall evaluation of EU progress towards GES.

LOUROPOULOU Evangelia;  ALONSO ALLER Elisa;  CARDOSO Ana Cristina;  CARRAVIERI Alice;  DRUON Jean-Noel;  MAGLIOZZI Chiara;  MARTINI Eirini;  MENDES Cláudia;  PALMA Marco;  PIRODDI Chiara;  RUIZ-OREJÓN Luis Francisco;  ZUPAN Mirta;  HANKE Georg;  LIQUETE Camino; 

2026-05-29

Publications Office of the European Union

JRC145965

978-92-68-38227-1 (online),   

1831-9424 (online),   

EUR 40658,    OP KJ-01-26-123-EN-N (online),   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC145965,   

10.2760/3379299 (online),