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Romania, convicted at European Court of Justice for PM10 pollution in Bucharest
Romania has been convicted at the European Court of Justice for pollution with PM 10 in Bucharest, the Minister of Environment, Waters and Forestry, Costel Alexe, told a press conference on Thursday.
"Romania was convicted at the European Court of Justice after the Bucharest City Hall failed to reduce pollution with PM10. An entire country is condemned because of an irresponsible local administration. The Commission was patient with us and waited for several years for Bucharest City Hall to adopt a plan to reduce pollution with PM10. Thenceforth, the City Hall has not able to adopt the measures assumed. For the time being, the conviction does not envisage sanctions," said Alexe.
The minister warned that, although no sanctions have been given to Romania yet, our country risks a new infringement procedure due to the high level of pollution, as well as fines of EUR 1.6 million.
In January this year, minister Costel Alexe used to say that Romania was awaiting for a verdict on the pollution in Bucharest, which could bring along a fine ranging from EUR 100,000 to EUR 400,000, launching repeated criticism against Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea, blaming her for not taking steps to solve the pollution issue.
In early March, national network and independent networks of monitoring the air quality in Bucharest have registered record excess of PM 2.5 and PM 10 pollution.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled on Thursday that Romania had not met its obligations to improve the air quality, arguing that our country has systematically violated the pollution norms in Bucharest. The ruling has been pronounced within a lawsuit opened by the European Commission against Romania.
In the ruling on Thursday, CJEU argues that “the daily limit values for PM 10 concentrations of particles have been systematically exceeded since 2007 until at least 2016 countrywide and the annual PM10 limits have been exceeded in Bucharest since 2007 until 2014.“
The Court says that Romania “has not met its obligations on the air quality and a clean air for Europe, enshrined in the article 13, paragraph 1 in the Directive 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament.”
CJEU is compelling Romania to cover the legal fees, but the document does not mention any sanction against our country.
The European Commission sued Romania on the pollution in Bucharest in May 2018.