Waste water treatment in Calabria: state of play regarding problems and infringement procedures

31.1.2019

Question for written answer E-000549-19
to the Commission
Rule 130
Laura Ferrara (EFDD)

The Calabrian waste water treatment system is still in a very critical state, even though immense quantities of public funding, both national and European, have been invested in it since the 2000s.

By Regional Government Decision No 34 of 8 February 2018, Calabria Region, having taken note of the agglomerations involved in an infringement procedure, or which might become involved in one, attempted to resolve the treatment problems by a adopting a general programme of measures, for which, moreover, approximately EUR 50 million is to be earmarked under Calabria’s 2014/2020 regional operational programme.

Those arrangements were put in place a year ago, but the tangible effects of what amounts to the umpteenth recovery plan are not happening or are proving slow to emerge.

The inefficiency can also be seen in Calabria Region’s failure to keep its promise (monitoring committee meetings of 2 February 2018 and 10 July 2018) to set up a specific regional database, which is supposed to be updated every six months and give details, for each agglomeration, of infringement procedures and the programming and implementation of measures.

At present, then, taking into account procedures 2017/2181, 2004/2034, and 2014/2059, the sad truth is that more than half of the Calabrian agglomerations remain non-compliant.

1. Does the Commission have any information on the progress of the measures to be taken under the 2014/2020 Calabrian regional operational programme?

2. Does it know when and how the abovementioned database will be activated?

3. Does it believe the current situation in Calabria to be highly dangerous for the environment and public health? What steps will it propose to remedy it?