Greece fined by EU for bad management of waste

Greece was fined, by European Court of Justice, 10 million euro and a penalty payment of EUR 30 000 for each day of delay for failure to implement EU law on waste.

In today's judgment, the Court held that Greece has not taken all the measures necessary for the implementation of the previous judgment of 2009. Thus, the deadline of 25 March 2013, Greece had not yet adopted a specific plan for the management of hazardous waste nor to establish an integrated and adequate network of disposal installations for hazardous waste or put in place a management-compliant "historical waste" (old waste temporarily stored at sites not used to that destination).

The European judges, underline, in particular, that "the construction of numerous facilities and three landfills for hazardous waste treatment has not started yet."

Greece now owes its creditors more than €300bn – about 180% of its annual economic output (GDP) – and is looking to secure debt relief.