The Romanian state could get a conviction at the European Court of Justice this fall for a failure to fulfill the provisions of a previous case, where it was convicted and where it did not take sufficient appropriate measures, the Minister of the Environment, Waters and Forests, Mircea Fechet, said on Tuesday, according to Agerpres.
He mentioned that it is about unclosed municipal, industrial, hazardous and non-hazardous waste deposits.
“We are already the subject of files that we have open before the European Court of Justice. Part of those files also refer to the way in which Romania collects waste separately, refer to the way in which Romania stores waste. We have a case in which there is a risk that the Romanian state will be condemned and which says just that, that in five landfills in Romania the storage is done improperly and based on a famous decision of the European Court of Justice, it is called the Malagrotta decision, Romania is liable to suffer pecuniary sanctions because we throw away together recyclables and other types of materials…. At the moment, the Romanian state does not pay pecuniary sanctions due to convictions suffered before the European Court of Justice, but I use this opportunity to raise a signal of alarm because there is a risk that in the fall of this year, the Romanian state will already suffer a first conviction in a case that specifically targets the non-fulfillment of the provisions of a previous case where the Romanian state was convicted and where it did not take sufficient appropriate measures,” said Mircea Fechet.
He stated that there are 101 unclosed municipal, industrial, hazardous and non-hazardous waste dumps, of which 33 are currently under discussion and in connection with which he expresses concern that there is a risk of being condemned, just as there is a risk to be convicted in other cases as well.
“I don’t know by heart what the list of 33 dangerous and non-dangerous industrial warehouses is. What I can say, however, is that they target, on one hand, entities that belong to the Romanian state, companies that today are bankrupt or insolvent, economic operators that do not have sufficient capacity to green this waste, and I could give you some examples. Whether we are discussing Donau Chem in Teleorman county or Sofert in Bacău county or we are discussing Suplacu de Barcău, Steaua Română, the former state refineries and many others up to 33, it is important to find those solutions through which the Romanian state can intervene and to be able to ensure that they will be greened as soon as possible because we will pay penalties that will be calculated daily, from the date of delay, which is related to the year 2020, if I remember correctly and if I am quoting correctly from memory, until the date on which we will close the last deposit from the list of 33,” said Mircea Fechet.