Parliamentary question - E-6064/2008Parliamentary question
E-6064/2008

Prolongation of the operational life of waste dumps in Suceava County, Romania

WRITTEN QUESTION E-6064/08
by Cătălin-Ioan Nechifor (PSE)
to the Council

Suceava County is one of the top tourist destinations in Romania and in South‑East Europe, and has preserved a cultural, artistic and architectural heritage of importance to mankind, being home to five religious art monuments in the form of five painted monasteries, dating from the XV and XVI Centuries, which are Unesco world heritage sites. Unfortunately, owing to the unstable political and governmental situation in Romania over the last four years, we have so far been unable to access European cohesion funding, and in particular the funds made available to Romania, as an EU Member State, through the ‘Environment’ Sectoral Operational Programme.

Given these circumstances, and bearing in mind that the municipal waste tips in Suceava (110 000 inhabitants), Vatra Dornei (25 000 inhabitants) and Siret (10 000 inhabitants) are currently scheduled for closure on 1 January 2009, I should like to request your agreement for a one‑year prolongation of the operational life of those three waste dumps.

Otherwise, the waste generated by the three municipalities will have to be transported under conditions that do not guarantee even minimum safety levels in terms of the environment and the lives of the local populace, with the municipality of Fălticeni set to be the worst affected owing to a daily intake of five times more waste than at present, as the local authorities intend to deposit at the Fălticeni tip, which is set for closure no later than 1 January 2010, the waste generated in other towns in the county, including the county’s capital.

Should this arrangement to transfer waste from Suceava to Fălticeni, in non‑specialised lorries, come to fruition, the impact on the environment will be even greater than if the operational life of the waste tips referred to above were prolonged by one year, during which time the county authorities will need to pinpoint a solution and implement an up‑to‑date, European plan for the management of the refuse generated across Suceava county, which has over 700 000 inhabitants.

OJ C 316, 23/12/2009