BRATISLAVA, March 9, (WEBNOVINY) — Slovakia faces a fine from the European Commission for not meeting the limits for the reduction of dangerous dust particles in the air. “The European Commission called on Slovakia to adopt measures for reduction of PM-10 emissions in the air,“ confirmed Michal Cakoci of the Ministry of Environment for the SITA news agency. Slovakia has only received a notion on launching the infringement proceedings from Brussels, but has not been fined yet. The Ministry of Environment is trying to avoid payment of the fine and on that account sent the European Commission its stance.
Minister of Environment Jozsef Nagy also discussed the air pollution with his Czech counterpart Tomas Chalupa, Hungary’s Minister of Rural Development Sandor Fazekas and State Secretary of Polish Ministry of Environment Janusz Zaleski at a two-day meeting of ministries of environment of V4 countries, which ended on Tuesday. They agreed on a common approach in search for the share of individual sources of dust particles and assessment of cross-border air pollution. V4 countries want cooperate in obtaining complex information for assessment of cross-border air pollution.
“Set goals appear to be too ambitious and hardly achievable in almost all European countries,“ said head of Slovakia’s Environment Ministry Jozsef Nagy after the meeting. He said that 21 EU member states, including Sweden, Germany, France, Italy and Austria, have problems with air pollution and limits for dust particles in the air. They violate limits for environment protection because of transport but also because of households’ biomass heating systems.
SITA