Environment ministers on EU mat for dirty air

brussels - EU Commissioner Karmenu Vella (Environment) calls for nine Member States because the air quality in their country remains below par. He has invited the environmental ministers for a meeting in Brussels Tuesday to remind them of fast action.

These are Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Great Britain. 'Parents of a child with bronchitis or with a lung disease want quick improvement. Action plans that take 10 or 12 years or ineffective plans are useless ', says Vella.

Brussels has already started infringement proceedings against all these countries because air pollution exceeds the legal EU limits. Those procedures can end at the European Court of Justice but take years. Vella hopes to prevent this by encouraging the nine countries to do something about it now.

According to the committee, 23 of the 28 Member States are experiencing excessive concentrations of nitrogen and fine dust in the air. Bulgaria and Poland have already been dragged to the EU court for this.