Infringement procedures

If the European Commission and a Member State fail to settle a case of a possible infringement of EU law early by means of structured dialogue, the Commission can launch an infringement procedure with a formal notice to the Member State in question, following up with a reasoned opinion and ultimately a court case. In the last five years, a total of 9 302 cases have been taken to court; 39 % of these are now closed cases. The chart below depicts all formal infringement procedures launched by the Commission since 2002. The data come from the Commission’s database on infringement decisions.