Romania Risks EC Infringement Over Waste Management

Nemirschi said in a press conference in Cluj-Napoca, northwestern Romania, that the sanctions of EUR200,000 the country could get because of poor waste management might be paid by local authorities too, not just the government.

"On July 16, our commitments to the EU will be assessed. We will see that we haven’t kept our word to shut down substandard landfills. In the fall, this will attract infringement proceedings,” Nemirschi said.

The minister scolded local authorities for failing to set locations for future landfills, saying there are counties where locations have been changed eight times, which leads to major delays in drawing feasibility studies.

"Landfills should have been ready by now for us to be able to close the substandard ones, as we committed. We have a big problem. I don’t see why the government should pay because of one local elect or another, who failed to do their job,” the minister said, adding that, in many cases, local authorities didn’t get involved and delayed projects regarding substandard landfills.

He also said one solution would be to transfer onto local authorities part of the penalties to be applied by the European Union.

"Someone will have to answer to voters, who will end up paying five times more for water works and waste management because their elect didn’t get involved to make their lives easier. It’s not the Environment Ministry’s fault that they failed to do their jobs. Europe has adopted solutions and transferred penalties onto local authorities,” Nemirschi said.

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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