Brussels, 26/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - The infringement procedures against the United Kingdom, Germany and Slovenia moved up a stage on Thursday 26 March. These three countries still fail to comply with EU environmental law despite receiving several warnings and so will be referred to the Court of Justice, the third stage in the procedure.
The United Kingdom faces two referrals to the Court. The first is for exceeding permitted emissions levels for nitrogen oxide (NOx) from the Aberthaw coal-fired power station in Wales. This is in breach of the directive on emissions from large combustion plants. The UK has announced that it is to update the facility to remedy the problem but the solution is a long time coming. The UK's second referral is for its persistent breach of the directive on the treatment of urban waste water (91/271/EEC): 17 agglomerations still do not have adequate collection and treatment systems and one, Gibraltar, does not even have a sewage treatment plant.
The European Commission is referring Germany to the Court for authorising a coal power plant in Hamburg/Moorburg, with a potentially negative impact on a number of protected fish species which pass near the power plant when migrating from the North Sea to some 30 Natura 2000 sites. Germany failed to carry out an appropriate impact assessment as required by the habitats directive (Directive 92/43/EEC) and refuses to assess viable alternatives despite receiving a reasoned opinion in November 2014.
Slovenia is being brought before the Court for its failure to comply with the requirements of the waste framework directive (2008/98/EC). It has failed to abide by the timetable for cleaning up an illegal landfill in Lovrenc na Dravskem polju, where more than 40,000 tons of highly flammable waste tyres have been stored since 2006. Large fires broke out at this location in 2007 and 2008. (Aminata Niang)