Something is in the air

A French member of the EU Parliament has asked the Commission why it has taken so long for it to take concrete action on breaches of EU rules on air quality.
In a preamble to his questions, which are due to be answered in writing, Guillaume Balas said that, for a number of years, France and several other EU countries had been in breach of the EU rules on air quality (Directive 2008/50/EC).
In these countries, the concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO²) and particulate matter (PM10) in the air had exceeded significantly the maximum levels permitted under the directive and the levels recommended by the World Health Organization.
However, despite the breaches of the rules being blatant, and despite thousands of deaths every year, all the Commission had done was to issue formal notices at regular intervals – to France in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017 – while waiting until 2018 to impose penalties on Poland and bring an action against France before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
Balas said that these proceedings could take another year to reach a conclusion and that similar proceedings had rarely led to penalties being imposed.
He asked:
‘How can the Commission justify having waited 10 years to haul France before the CJEU, despite repeated warnings from the WHO about the dangers to public health?
‘How can the Commission reconcile the 10-year delay with its role as a guardian of public health in Europe?’