site.btaEuropean Commission Refers Bulgaria to EU Court of Justice Over Poor Air Quality

European Commission Refers Bulgaria to EU Court of Justice Over Poor Air Quality

Brussels, June 18 (BTA Correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - The
European Commission (EC) Thursday said that it is referring
Belgium and Bulgaria to the EU Court of Justice over
persistently high levels of the dust particles which pose a
major risk to public health.

"Despite an obligation for Member States to ensure good air
quality for citizens, air quality has been a problem in many
places for a number of years now. Studies show that every year
poor air quality causes more deaths than road traffic accidents.
Tiny particles known as PM10s, mostly resulting from human
activities such as transport, industry and domestic heating
cause respiratory problems, lung cancer and premature death,"
the press release reads.

EU legislation has set limit values for PM10 since 2005. "In
case of exceedance of such limit values, Member States adopt air
quality plans and ensure that such plans set appropriate
measures so that the exceedance period can be kept as short as
possible by adopting decisive and more forward-looking action.
Measures are necessary to improve air quality, and by targeting
the failures to act, the Commission hopes to ensure that Member
States will take decisive, problem-solving action," the EC said.


"In Bulgaria, despite a number of measures taken and some
reductions in PM10 emissions registered at most monitoring
points since 2011, the data shows persisting non-compliance with
the annual and/or daily limit values for PM10 in all the
country's 6 zones and agglomerations other than in Varna, which
complied with the annual limit value once - in 2009," the press
release reads further. Thursday's decision follows a reasoned
opinion sent in July 2014.