The state and the municipalities need to work jointly to identify measures for air quality, so as to achieve more sustainable and effective results. The aim is to identify actions for the short, medium, and long term, but also for immediate implementation. This was stated by the Deputy Minister of Environment and Water Reneta Koleva at the round table “United for cleaner air”, which took place today.

Deputy Minister Koleva recalled that in 2017 an infringement procedure was launched against Bulgaria for failure to comply with the norms for fine dust particles 10 (PM10) and it is expected that our country will be found in noncompliance with the Air Quality Directive by the Court of Justice of the EU. Now the main priority is to support the actions of the municipalities that fall within the scope of the decision by the Court of the EU from April 5, 2017 for noncompliance with PM10 norms as reported in the last 5 years (2017-2021).

Funds have been allocated to help municipalities under Operational Program “Environment 2014-2020” to improve air quality in order to minimize air pollution from domestic heating and transport, including the creation of an information system for reporting data on the quality of atmospheric air as part of the National air quality monitoring system in real time. Activities for developing and updating municipal programs for air quality were also financed. And in the new Program “Environment 2021-2027”, a significant financial resource has been committed to reducing air pollution from domestic heating.

“The interest in programs to replace old heating appliances and wood and coal stoves shows us that this is the right way to go. I expect in the next program period to continue in this direction in order to reduce the use of wood and coal during the heating season,” emphasized Koleva.

She added that under the new “Environment 2021-2027” program, 105 million BGN have been earmarked for reducing secondary dust by building green infrastructure in urban environments. The funds will be provided through the approach for integrated territorial investments, whereby the 21 municipalities that have not yet complied with the standards for PM10 content will be able to benefit.

Following the process and the investments made, Deputy Minister Koleva emphasized that 2021 is the first year in which there is no single municipality with excess average annual norms of fine dust particles, which is an indicator of the trend of improving air quality.

The forum was attended by the Mayor of Sofia Municipality Yordanka Fandakova, members of the Sofia Municipal Council, deputy mayors from the country, as well as representatives of the scientific community.