The European Court of Justice has fined the Greek state for not implementing a European Union directive on urban waste water treatment that was intended to be in full effect by the end of 2000.
The Greek state will have to pay a fine of 10 million euros as well as 3.64 million euros for every semester it delays the payment. This translates to 20,000 euros each day.
The case against Greece had first begun in 2007 as it was found that 24 agglomerations that should have implemented had not been more than six years after the deadline. Almost eight years later, Greece has still not applied this EU measure in six agglomerations, namely Artemida, Lefkimi, Koropi, Markopoulo, Nea Makri, Rafina all located in Attica.
“By today’s judgment the Court finds that Greece has failed in its obligation to comply with the 2007 judgment in so far as, by the expiry of the period fixed by the Commission for compliance with that judgment (25 April 2011), the six agglomerations concerned had still not been equipped with systems for collecting or treating urban waste water,” the court’s press release notes.
