REPORTS
Non-compliance of Greece with the directive on urban wastewater treatment – violation: INFR (2020) 2021
In the event that a Member State does not apply Union law and fails to fulfill any of the obligations laid down in the EU Treaties, the European Commission may initiate formal infringement proceedings under Articles 258 and 260 TFEU (details of infringement proceedings here).
According to the “December infringement package: main decisions/2-12-2021“ the European Commission had initially sent a letter of formal notice calling on Greece to comply with the provisions of the above directive in May 2020. Data provided by Greece revealed that urban waste water is neither properly collected, nor properly treated before being discharged in 209 agglomerations. Greece is also relying to an excessive extent on Individual and Appropriate Systems (e.g. septic tanks) without fulfilling the standards of the Directive. For these reasons, the European Commission decided to send a reasoned opinion, calling on Greece to comply with EU rules on urban waste water treatment, as it considered that Greece is not meeting the requirements set by EU law.
The application of EU law is an obligation of the Member States of the European Union. If possible breaches of EU law are detected, the European Commission may take a series of actions against that Member State to ensure the correct and full application of EU law by initiating infringement proceedings in accordance with Articles 258 and 260 of the TFEU.
In this case, the European Commission sent a reasoned opinion to Greece calling on the country to comply with the obligations arising from Directive 91/271/EEC, since urban waste water is neither properly collected, nor properly treated before being discharged in 209 agglomerations. Greece is also relying to an excessive extent on Individual and Appropriate Systems (e.g. septic tanks) without fulfilling the standards of the Directive.
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