Romania Hasn’t Complied With EU Waste Mgmt Rules, EC May Trigger Infringement

According to a statistic of the Environmental Guard, nearly 2,300 landfills in Romania were still substandard on July 1, just two weeks before the conformity deadline set by the European Commission.

According to Silvian Ionescu, general commissioner of the Romanian Environmental Guard, the statistic, completed on the last day of June, indicated 2,297 landfills did not comply with European standards.

He alos said at that time that, since February, local authorities throughout the country had been notified six times that they need to close substandard dump sites by July 16.

"Still, the mechanism has been started and most local communities have started taking measures. But taking measures doesn’t mean they will be in compliance by July 16,” Ionescu said at the time.

The issue of infringement over waste management has been an important topic for discussion among central authorities over the past month.

Romanian environment minister Nicolae Nemirschi said in March that Romania would not be able to dodge EC sanctions on waste management and the country’s only chance would be to get an extension of the deadline.

Nemirschi said his statements are based on an inventory performed by inspectors of the National Environmental Guard and Romania could fix only about 70-80% of its waste management issues in due time, with no sanctions from the European Commission.

"Under these circumstances, there’s no way to avoid infringement. I’ll go to the Commission and cry,” Nemirschi said at the time, adding that he plans to require European officials for new terms to allow Romania to conform.

Asked what consequences infringement proceeding would have on Romania, Nemirschi said the country might be fined EUR200,000 per day. However, the minister added, fines are to be paid by local authorities that didn’t manage to fix their waste management problems.

According to negotiations with European institutions, Romania committed to fix all its waste management problems by 2015. One of the main objectives is to shut down all landfills and authorize only those that observe European standards.

During negotiations that started in 2003 with the EU on this matter, Romania undertook, in the name of local authorities, to shut down a number of landfills annually, for which it requested transition periods.

According to Romania’s EU Accession Treaty, a number of landfills should be closed in 2009. If these dump sites continue to be used after the date set with the EU in the lack of investments from local authorities that manage them, the European Commission might start infringement procedures against Romania.

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