In European Court of Justice are referred Greece and Bulgaria, on the charge that they violated the air pollution limits, despite repeated warnings.
The Brussels They have launched a series of legal actions regarding poor air quality in countries such as France, Italy, and Romania, with the aim of reducing violations that endanger citizens' health.
According to the Commission, Greece has failed to comply with the daily limit values for AS10 concentrations, which have been legally binding since 2005. Greece has failed to fulfill its obligations to keep the period of exceedance as short as possible and has not taken sufficient measures to reduce AS10 concentrations in Thessaloniki, the European Commission states.
The data submitted by Greece confirm, as noted, the systematic exceedances in Thessaloniki over a 14-year period starting in 2005 (for all years except 2013). In 2019, the most recent year for which data are currently available, there were 67 days on which limit values were exceeded.
The European Commission considers that the efforts made by the Greek authorities to date have not been satisfactory or sufficient.
Air pollution is the greatest environmental health risk in Europe. Airborne pollutants contributed to 379,000 premature deaths in the EU in 2018, although this figure was 13% lower than in 2009, according to a report by the European Environment Agency.
