Brussels, 03/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - A proper and immediate waste collection and management plan, or expect to face the music. The European Parliament says it is high time that Italy respects EU waste management rules and that the competent authorities are open about contracts to deal with mafia involvement in the collection of rubbish in Campania (the Naples region), restoring local people's confidence after their public protests and indignation were ignored. This was the message of a resolution tabled by the S&D, Greens/EFA, ALDE and GUE/NGL and adopted in Brussels on Thursday 3 February by 374 to 208 with 38 abstentions.
The European Parliament calls on the European Commission to monitor developments closely and asks the European Court of Justice to fine Italy under Article 260 of the Lisbon Treaty if it fails to rapidly implement Court of Justice Ruling C304/02 of March last year. It calls for the urgent introduction of a waste management plan in line with the types of waste set out in EU Directive 2008/98/EC, saying that EU structural fund aid for Campania will not be realised until the waste management plan complies with EU law. The MEPs say the exceptional measures taken by the Italian government over the years to exempt the area from assessments of damage to the environment and from public procurement rules, along with the appointment of special officials to decide on where rubbish dumps are located without any genuine consultation or without informing the local public authorities, are viewed by most of the local population as part of the problem rather than a solution. This secrecy and lack of control by the public authorities makes it easier for organised crime to infiltrate public rubbish collection and allows the illegal fly-tipping of industrial waste. The EP stresses the importance of first arranging the collection of containers of recyclable waste that have been accumulating in storage depots and disposing of them properly once the exact content has been carefully analysed. Particular attention should also go to dealing with the illegal open air rubbish dumps of household and other waste near Ferandelle. The EP is particularly upset about the decision to allow waste to be dumped in protected natural sites that are part of the pan-European Natura 2000 network. (A.N./transl.fl)