The European Commission decided on Thursday 15 July to refer Greece to the Court of Justice of the European Union over poor air quality caused by high levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2).
Where limit values set by EU legislation on ambient air quality (Directive 2008/50/EC) are exceeded, Member States are required to adopt air quality plans to ensure that measures are taken to keep the period of exceedance as short as possible.
However, according to the Commission, Greece has “continuously and persistently” exceeded the annual NO2 limit value in Athens. Furthermore, it has not adopted measures to sufficiently reduce the period of exceedance of this NO2 threshold.
The Commission therefore considers that the efforts made so far by the Greek authorities have been “unsatisfactory and insufficient”.
The European Green Deal and the Zero Pollution Action Plan emphasise the importance of reducing air pollution, which is one of the main factors affecting human health.
The full implementation of air quality standards set out in EU legislation is essential to effectively protect human health and preserve the natural environment, the Commission argues. NO2 results mostly from human activities, such as road traffic and industry. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)