Brussels, 19/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - Budapest will benefit from a period of grace in which to provide the European Commission with all the information requested to clarify reasons why, on 4 October, there was this major industrial disaster that caused an avalanche of toxic red sludge (see EUROPE 10233 and 10232).
The initial time given to the Hungarian authorities for their response to a questionnaire sent to them by the Commission on 22 October was two weeks. Evoking the complex nature of the dossier, Budapest had called for more time. They were given until 18 November.
On Friday 19 November, the European Commission had not received a response. Joe Hennon, who is the spokesman for Janez Potoènik, European Environment Commissioner, confirmed this, specifying that, this time, no deadline had been set for a response. He said they were expected to answer within the next couple of weeks.
Questions raised by the Commission concern, inter alia, the exact composition of the toxic sludge, the operating permit issued to the aluminium plant at the origin of the ecosystem pollution, and the way inspections are carried out. The Commission wants to know whether European legislation was implemented.
Request for an independent inquiry. On Thursday, the S&D Group at the European Parliament called for an in-depth and independent investigation to be carried out on the Ajka accident. After hearing the detailed explanations given by Béla Schwartz, the mayor of Ajka, the S&D MEPs said during their visit to Budapest that “Hungary, like the EU, should draw lessons from this environmental disaster”. In order to know whether there was non-compliance with the European law and whether the legislation had any gaps that should be filled, exact information was needed, they said. They went on to call on the Hungarian government to provide any information relating to the investigation for the European authorities. “The area needs to be cleaned and we should also try to save the 1100 jobs that depend on this factory”, said Linda McAven, MEP and spokesperson for the group on environmental issues. (A.N./transl.jl)