Judgment_paragraph 167 · European Commission v Ireland (C-444/21)

167At the same time, in view of its obligation to prove the alleged failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligations, the Commission cannot, under the guise of claiming that the Member State concerned has generally and persistently failed to fulfil its obligations under EU law, avoid complying with that obligation to prove the alleged failure on the basis of concrete evidence of the infringement of the specific provisions which it invokes, and rely on simple presumptions or schematic causations (see, to that effect, judgment of 5 September 2019, Commission v Italy (Bacterium Xylella fastidiosa), C‑443/18, EU:C:2019:676, paragraph 80).