Brussels, 16/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - In the flood of environmental infringements flagged up every month, the European Commission announced on Thursday 16 June that it had decided to move to the next stage in procedures against five member states which, despite prior warning, still fail to comply with the waste framework directive (Directive 2008/98/EC). The Commission has not yet, however, determined whether to refer Italy once again to the Court for failure to observe a Court ruling on the management of rubbish in the Naples region.
Five reasoned opinions. On the recommendation of Environment Commissioner Janez Potoènik, the Commission is to send reasoned opinions, the second stage of the procedure, to Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece and Poland for failing to inform the Commission about the transposition of this legislation into national law, which should have happened by 12 December 2010. They now have two months to comply. If they fail to do so, the Commission may refer the cases to the EU Court of Justice and ask the Court to impose financial penalties. Directive 2008/98/EC sets the legal framework for waste treatment in the EU. It introduces waste management principles, such as the “polluter pays principle”, and lays down a binding waste hierarchy that requires member states to manage their waste in the following order of priority: prevention, reuse, recycling, other recovery and disposal.
Italy still under surveillance. In response to a journalist who had asked why the Commission had still to implement its threat of referring Italy once more to the Court, the commissioner replied: “We are keeping a close eye on the situation on the ground. The situation is of concern to us, even though there have been improvements recently. It is difficult to say any more as assessment of the next stage and the measures to take is still on-going”.
A second referral to the Court of Justice, with the possibility of financial penalties, was threatened by the commissioner on 26 November of last year since Italy had not taken the necessary steps to comply with the Court of Justice ruling after the Court found against it in March for failure to observe the requirements of the European directive on waste management (Directive 2006/12/EC, Case C-297/08). The competent authorities and all the political parties of the region were called on to adopt a management plan as quickly as possible and to ensure effective implementation. (A.N./transl.rt)