As ‘Guardian of the Treaties’, one of the tasks entrusted to the European Commission by Article 17 of the Treaty on European Union is to oversee the application of EU law. The infringement procedure – Articles 258 to 260 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union – is one of the enforcement mechanisms that can be applied by the Commission against a Member State whenever the Commission is of the opinion that the Member State is in breach of its obligations under European Union law. Divided into phases – pre-litigation (characterised by technical communication and negotiation between the Commission and the Member State in question) and litigation (jurisdictional phase, in front of the Court) – the purpose of this procedure is to give Member States the opportunity to voluntarily remedy the alleged breach of EU law and/or explain their position to the Commission. In case of persistence of the breach, the Commission will bring the Member State before the Court.