The Court of the EU ruled against Bulgaria due to exceeded values of sulfur dioxide in the Southeast region

12 May, 2022 | 14:42

 

The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled today in case C-730/19, filed by the European Commission against Bulgaria for exceeding the norms of sulfur dioxide in the area of ​​Galabovo. In its ruling, the Court found that Bulgaria had committed a breach of EU law, in particular that:

  • has failed to fulfill its obligations under Article 13 (1) of Directive 2008/50 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2008 on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe (OJ 2008 L 152, p. 1) in relation to Annex XI thereto, by systematically and consistently failing to comply in zone BG0006 (South-East), on the one hand, with the hourly limit value for sulfur dioxide (SO2) since 2007, and on the other, from 2007, with the exception of 2010 and 2012, the daily limit value for SO2, and
  • has failed to fulfill its obligations under Article 23 (1) of Directive 2008/50 in relation to Section A of Annex XV thereto, and in particular its obligation under the second subparagraph of Article 23 (1) of that directive to ensure that the a short period of exceeding the SO2 limit values ​​in zone BG0006 (South-East), having not adopted, as of 11 June 2010, appropriate measures to ensure compliance with the above-mentioned SO2 limit values ​​in this zone.

The current decision of the Court of Justice of the EU only established that Bulgaria has committed a violation of EU law without imposing financial sanctions on the country.

Since 2007, upon its accession to the EU, Bulgaria has been obliged to achieve and comply with the norms of air quality established within European legislation. Due to Bulgaria’s failure to meet the requirements for sulfur dioxide levels in 2009 the EC launched criminal proceedings against the country and at that time the problem areas were three - Pernik, Galabovo, and Dimitrovgrad.

Indeed, in recent years there has been a significant reduction in total emissions of harmful substances and in particular sulfur dioxide - from 715 358 to 48 567 tons compared to 2007. Consequently, as of October 2019, when the EC referred to the Court of Justice, Galabovo is the only municipality in which there were still problems with meeting the European requirements for the content of sulfur oxides in the air. The main reason for this is the historically inherited concentration of four large combustion plants located on a small area in the Maritza Iztok coal basin. This leads to the total release of relatively large amounts of sulfur dioxide.

In order to achieve the required air quality the Ministry of Environment and Water has taken a number of actions, including intensified controls to reduce sulfur dioxide levels in the air in Galabovo.

As a result of the measures taken for the period since 2019 there is a significant reduction in the number of exceedances of the norms for sulfur dioxide registered in Galabovo as follows:

In 2019, 95 exceedances were registered of the average hourly norm for protection of human health for sulfur dioxide of 350 µg/m3, with a permissible number of 24 for one calendar year, and 10 exceedances of the average daily norm for protection of human health of 125 µg/m3, which must not be exceeded more than 3 times;

  • In 2020, 28 exceedances of the average hourly norm and 2 exceedances of the average daily norm were registered;
  • In 2021, 14 exceedances of the average hourly norm were registered and no exceedances of the average daily norm, i.e. the requirements of the legislation were met.

 However, during the period from May 2021 in Dimitrovgrad, which is in the same area for assessment and management of air quality as the town of Galabovo, it was established that the norms for sulfur dioxide were exceeded.

In order to comply with the decision by the Court and to eliminate the violation of European requirements, our country must show that there is a systematic and lasting compliance with the norms of sulfur dioxide. Otherwise, the as a next step the European Commission will ask the Court of Justice to impose financial sanctions on Bulgaria.

The Ministry of Environment and Water will continue to strictly monitor the fulfillment of the regulatory requirements by the installations in the region and to apply all legal means to prevent new violations of ambient air quality, including and sulfur dioxide.