The Compatibility of the habitats directive with the Novel EU Green Infrastructure Policy

Green Infrastructure is a novel EU policy response to the continuous degradation of natural capital. The central idea behind this initiative is the recognition of environment as an infrastructure resource capable of delivering a wide range of ecosystem services. With its GI strategy, the European Commission aims to provide a framework for integrating GI into sectoral policies including nature conservation. According to the Commission, at this point GI can be implemented within the context of existing legislation. In this article we will focus on assessing the cornerstone of EU nature conservation legislation, the Habitats Directive, through the lens of GI. The analysis revealed that the Directive has several weaknesses from the perspective of GI and thus re-consideration of some provisions or revision of the Directive may be needed in order to support the EU GI initiative