On 25 July, the European Commission sent Bulgaria and Spain to court for repeatedly breaching EU air quality standards and failing to guarantee citizens’ right to clean air.
Ruling against Bulgaria opens door for air pollution action
The recent decision from the EU Court of Justice opens the door for the Commission to take more robust action in relation to air quality infringements and will facilitate legal actions before national courts by individuals and NGOs.
Bulgaria breached EU limits for particulate matter (PM10) across all its urban areas between at least 2007 and 2013 and its plans to achieve compliance were “flawed”..
Belgium, Bulgaria and Sweden must act to reduce PM levels
In June, the European Commission referred Belgium and Bulgaria to the EU Court of Justice over persistently high levels of particulate matter (PM10). EU legislation has set limit values for PM10 since 2005. In case of exceedance of such limit values, member states shall adopt air quality plans and ensure that such plans set appropriate measures so that the exceedance period can be kept as short as possible.
Commission tells Austria, Germany, Slovakia and Bulgaria to act on air quality
In Austria, PM10 levels are too high in the zone of Graz, and in Germany in the zones of Stuttgart and Leipzig. In Slovakia, six zones exceed the daily limit value for PM10 ..
Bulgaria and Latvia have to improve protection for citizens from particulate matter (PM10) pollution. Citizens in all six zones and agglomerations in Bulgaria (AG Sofia, AG Plovdiv, AG Varna, North, South-West and South-East) have been exposed to excessive levels of PM10 since at least 2007.
