Bulgaria’s printed media accentuate on Thursday on the decision of the European Court of Justice related to the lawsuit against Bulgaria on violation of an EU directive on ambient air quality and cleaner air in Europe. The EU court has found Bulgaria guilty for systematic and constant exceeding of EU norms on fine particulate matter on the territory of the whole country.The case against Sofia was initiated by the European Commission. So far, Bulgaria has not been sentenced to pay fines. However, that country received an ultimatum to bring air quality into EU norms, Sega daily informs on its first pages. The article of that newspaper specifies that Bulgaria has been sentenced by the European Court of Justice, because it exceeded the norms of fine particulate matter. According to information of the European Environment Agency, Bulgaria is the country with most polluted air in the whole EU. If that county and its municipalities fail to take measures aimed at reducing the level of fine dust particles, it may be sentenced to pay a lump-sum or daily fines. Those fines would be paid until Bulgaria eliminates the infringement completely, Sega daily specifies. Bulgaria has not done anything to reduce the level of fine particulate matter in the past 6 years, Capital daily notes on Thursday. The newspaper further informs that Bulgaria’s main excuse was connected with the social and economic situation. It could not solve the problem related to the level of fine dust particles due to the sources of pollution- home heating and automobile transport. Moreover, many Bulgarians have been burning coal during the winter periods, because they have been experiencing financial difficulties, the newspaper further informs. However, that excuse was rejected by the European Court of Justice, Capital daily writes. Trud daily quotes lawyer Mihail Ekimdzhiev who initiated a civil lawsuit against Plovdiv Municipality over the high levels of air pollution in that Bulgarian city. “The decision of the European Court of Justice was expected, because Bulgaria has not taken any serious and adequate measures to solve that problem since its accession in the EU in 2007". Since then that country has been among the EU member states with most polluted air. According to the EU directive on ambient air, the daily limit should not be exceeded in more than 35 days in a calendar year. However, the daily limits in the city of Plovdiv were exceeded in over 200 days in some calendar years.
English version: Kostadin Atanasov
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