Rigorous enforcement by member states of EU environmental law, sometimes under duress, protects EU citizens’ health and saves taxpayers money, according to a study published by the Commission on Tuesday 13 December.
The study reveals that infringement proceedings opened by the Commission to constrain member states to comply with the requirements of EU environmental law in waste management and air and water quality have saved billions of euro in health care.
To illustrate this, the report contains numerous precise examples. Enforcement action to increase the reuse and recycling of waste helps avoid delays in reaching the targets for reuse and recycling, with average savings of €1.2 billion per case. The savings generated by EU legal action leading to improved bathing water quality are estimated to amount to €97 million on average per case analysed, per year.
The infringement procedure opened against France in 2003, and now closed, over its 8,523 illegal landfill sites has proved its worth: bringing the last 26 sites into line with the law saves €2.4 million per year, the Commission says.
The infringement proceedings opened in 2004 against Greece for the poor quality of drinking water in Central Macedonia led to an improvement in water quality for 49,000 households and brought annual savings of between €100,000 and €500,000 in medical care costs.
The infringement procedure opened against Spain in 2008 over 533 industrial facilities operating without the proper permit governing their emissions, confirming that they complied with the best available techniques, led to a Court of Justice ruling in 2010 speeding up the process so that, by the end of 2012, these installations had been brought into line with the directive on industrial pollution which seeks to prevent and control water, air and soil pollution by industry. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)