Brussels, 25/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - Is the long-lasting saga of the Campania waste crisis about to come to its conclusion? This may not be certain, but the European Commission has given Italy a last chance to come to agreement with it on the key points of a special waste management plan, with specific attention to dangerous waste. A technical meeting is to be held in Rome in March and, if no agreement can be reached, Italy will be referred for a second time to the Court of Justice and face fines. European Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik said after a meeting with Italian Environment Minister Corrado Clini that, in the light of the Commission's assessment of the situation at the present time, he is of the view that Italy is still not implementing the Court of Justice ruling. He said the Commission was preparing to refer the matter back to the Court, but that he would be prepared to review the situation if certain conditions were met. It is, he indicated, “a race against time” (see EUROPE 10533). The whole meeting was devoted to Italy's response of 17 January to the second letter of formal notice from the Commission calling a second time on Italy to implement the Court ruling of March 2010 which flagged up the lack of an adequate integrated waste management system in Campania (case C-297/08). The commissioner said that he had no problems with the recently adopted local waste management plan: “At first sight, it is a very good plan”, but it has nevertheless still to be checked.
What is missing, he said, is a waste management plan for specific waste and in particular dangerous waste. Clini said that this would be ready by March: “The important thing, however, is that the 2012-2013-2014 transition period, until it is fully up and running, is correctly handled so that there can be no new crisis”. “It is up to Italy to respond”, warned the commissioner. Emergency measures will have to be taken on selective collection and recycling of waste, increasing the use of organic waste and landfill capacity. What must absolutely be done is to bring an end to depositing waste in illegal landfill sites and incinerating dangerous waste, the Potocnik stated. The Commission is planning to reduce cohesion funding: only projects which relate to selective collection and recycling will be financed. The commissioner said that there would be no funding for disposal of waste in landfill sites, and that financing of incinerators would be decided on a case-by-case basis. Clini gave assurances that everything was being done so that the special waste management plan could be adopted as quickly as possible and said he was “ready to work with the regional and local authorities to improve waste collection and recycling as this was the way to bring a long-term structural solution to the crisis”. (AN/transl.rt)