The lawsuit filed by the European Commission (EC) at the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) is only a reflection of the incompetence of the previous ministers of the environment, who caused that Slovakia does not have a completed sewage system even ten years after the deadline, which had for its completion. This was stated by the head of the environmental department Tomáš Taraba (SNS nominee) in response to the December package of decisions on infringements of EU legislationwhich was presented by the EC on Monday. In one case concerning the environment, The EC sued Slovakia at the Court of Justice of the EU for insufficient treatment of municipal wastewater.
“I am very happy that under my leadership the environmental department has become the leader in drawing European fundsand for this purpose and only during this year we contracted projects for 600 million euros. We are from the Environmental Fund supported the municipalities with more than 100 million euros. It is the exact opposite of the actions of the previous management of the environmental department, which we are for they lost 430 million euros from European funds,” declared Taraba.
According to the European Commission, Slovakia does not fully comply obligations relating to the collection and treatment of waste water set out in the 1991 Directive. The directive requires that municipal wastewater be collected and treated before release into the wild. Cities and urban agglomerations must establish the necessary infrastructure for the collection and treatment of municipal wastewater.
The Commission sent a formal invitation to Slovakia in February 2017, which was followed by a reasoned opinion in November 2019. Despite some progress, the Slovak authorities have not yet fully resolved the complaints, and therefore The EC submitted the case to the Court of Justice of the EU.
