ECJ condemns Italy over Naples trash
Court says Rome ignored EU rules on waste management
04 March, 15:13
(ANSA) - Brussels, March 4 - The European Court of Justice
(ECJ) on Thursday condemned Italy for its failure to adopt
adequate measures which would have averted a 2007-2008 trash
crisis in the southern region of Campania, of which Naples is
the capital.The ruling was in response to a suit filed by the European Commission (EC) in May 2008 after the European Union executive had determined that Italy had not responded to repeated warnings that it was in violation of the EU's Waste Framework Directive.
According to the EC the situation in Campania risked the spread of disease and pollution of air, water and land.
The Italian government later asked the ECJ to reject the EC suit on the grounds that the situation had changed after it had mounted a high-profile campaign in 2008, headed by the civil protection department.
A statement from the civil protection department on Thursday stressed how the situation for which Italy was condemned was prior to its intervention.
The Legambiente environment group, on the other hand, said the ECJ's condemnation was "well deserved" and demonstrated how the government decision for almost 15 years to make an appointed administrator responsible for waste management in the region "was only a waste of three billion euros".
In its ruling, the ECJ agreed with the EC that the situation in Campania had put public health and the environment at risk and that Italy had "failed to create an effective management system that addresses the collection, treatment and disposal of waste in the areas where the waste was created". The ECJ also said that "neither the opposition of the local population (to waste treatment plants) nor the failure of companies to respect contracts and not even the existence of criminal activities can justify violating (EU) obligations to build waste treatment facilities".
