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Environment ministry claims it could lower EU fine

Greece’s Environment, Energy and Climate Change Ministry on Tuesday said the heavy fine imposed by the European Court of Justice on the country for failing to comply with EU directives on waste management may be drastically lowered or even zeroed as the ministry has since the trial May 2014 taken steps to fix the problem.

The ministry said the trial took place in June 2014 when Greece had 70 active and 223 inactive unregulated dumps. Since then, 48 dumps have been fully restored, 31 have stopped operating and the restoration of the rest is underway. 
 
In addition to a lump sum of 10 million euros, the Court ordered Greece, until the 2005 judgment is complied with in full, to make a penalty payment, the actual amount of which will depend of the progress made by Greece. If there is no such progress, the penalty will be more than 14 million euros for each six-month period of delay.

Commenting on the ruling, the president of the Permanent Bipartisan Committee on Environmental Protection, Dionysia Avgerinopoulou, said Greece is at risk of being slapped with new large fines for the management of toxic and hospital waste.  
 
"In the next few years, we will be faced with new fines. Greece doesn’t implement recycling to the degree required and we haven’t done what’s necessary to properly manage toxic, dangerous and hospital waste," she said.
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