The Federal Republic of Germany from time to time gets into trouble with the EU because the country is more negligent in the implementation of guidelines and regulations than other Member States. This is currently again the case with regard to the implementation of the Aarhus Convention, an international treaty stipulating rights for individuals in environmental matters. Germany has transposed the treaty into national law but the European Court of Justice ruled in 2015 that this is not sufficient. The government was supposed to address the remaining shortcomings until the end of 2016. However, the Minister for the Environment stated in a letter addressed to the Chief of Staff of the German Chancellery that Germany did not do this so far. She also stresses in the document that the consequences might amount to a penalty of several millions of Euro. It is unclear why the deficient legislation is still in place, especially because a new draft law, which addresses the shortcomings, does exist.
