BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The Court of Justice of the European Union has condemned France for violating the quality rules for drinking water polluted by nitrates in three departments in the West, paving the way for heavy fines.
This decision shows that the Luxembourg judges will not hesitate to severely punish France in a similar but more important case, which concerns water pollution in Brittany, if the situation does not improve there.
The judgment given on Thursday relates to Vendée, Deux-Sèvres and Charente-Maritime, where water intended for human consumption has been from 1998 to date polluted by pesticides and nitrates from agriculture to levels higher than that provided for by Union directives.
These levels are 0,5 milligrams per liter for nitrates and 0,5 micrograms per liter for pesticides and the Commission had brought an action against France.
The judges recognized that the situation had improved considerably since 2003 thanks to the actions undertaken.
"However, the Court notes that, in any event, despite the improvements noted in the three departments concerned, it is not disputed that the provisions of the directive were still not fully complied with in 2003 or even at the date the introduction of this infringement action ", we can read in a press release from the institution.
If France does not comply, the Commission may lodge a new appeal by asking the European justice system to impose daily fines and periodic penalty payments for each day of delay in applying the standards.
BREACH FOR BRETONS
In the case - of a completely different dimension - of the quality of Breton waters, the procedure is much more advanced.
France has already been sentenced, the catchments still do not comply with standards and, after a decade of delay, the Commission asked the Court last June to fine France more than 28 million euros, with a daily penalty of 117.882 euros.
However, on September 12, the European executive suspended its legal action to give Paris time.
France in fact adopted in March 2007 an action plan so that all the catchments were in conformity at the end of 2009, when they should have been as soon as ... 1987, which justifies this suspension of execution, an extremely rare occurrence in the annals of the EU.
Of the 37 catchment points which were problematic, nine are currently non-compliant with standards and France reports quarterly to the Commission on the progress made.
The effluents from intensive farming used as fertilizer by farmers are the main source of pollution of drinking water in Brittany. This region concentrates 7% of the national agricultural area, half of the country's pig and poultry farms and a third of the national cattle herd.
After an initial formal notice in 1993, the European executive had condemned France in 2001, the year from which Paris offered Breton farmers a protection system on the basis of voluntary service which was poorly followed.
France will devote 80 million euros to bring the nine polluted basins into compliance.
It undertook to make compulsory from 1 January 2008 a 30% reduction in the nitrogen inputs spread in the catchments of the nine water catchment points and to close four of them within the next two years. .
It also undertook to annually control 50% of the farms in the watersheds of the nine catchment points to guarantee that they are implementing all measures aimed at reducing pollution.
Yves clarisse
source: Yahoo news
When you know that in Brittany the authorizations for setting up or enlarging industrial pigsties are almost systematically granted, this is not about to happen ...