Brussels, 02/11/2000 (Agence Europe) - Greece not having yet communicated its intention of taking concrete measures to respect the Court of Justice ruling of 4 July on the disposal of toxic and hazardous waste by the department of Khania, in the island of Crete (Kouroupitos ruling, after the name of the torrent in which waste continues to be dumped in an uncontrolled manner: see EUROPE of 5 July, p.8), the European Commission has sent an initial letter this week to the Greek authorities calling on them to pay 1.76 million, covering, for the period from July to September, the 20,000 euro day fine imposed by the Court. You may recall that, in this affair, the Court of Justice had for the first time used the possibility granted to it by the Treaty to condemn a Member State, on a proposal by the European Commission, to paying a fine until it has strictly complied with a former Court ruling; in this case, it was a ruling dating back to 7 April 1992.
The Commission has also announced to the Greek authorities that, in future, it will present them with a monthly request for payment, for the amount due each month. So as to comply with the Court's ruling, Greece has to take the following measures: adopt a regional plan for waste management and a regional programme for the disposal of hazardous waste in the region of Khania; close down the illegal dump of Kouroupitos and rehabilitate the site.