Another verdict from European Court For Hellas on its environmental performance. This time for her Air pollution in Thessaloniki – and especially the very high prices of fine particles – which the country has failed to address over the past decade.

The European Commission controls prices for suspended microparticles diameter 10 (AC10) in our country started in 2005. The Commission found that there is a problem in many localities, as limit values ​​are exceeded for a significant number of days.

The Committee issued a warning letter to the country in 2009 and an additional warning letter in 2013, arguing that, in addition to consistently violating the limit values, Greece had not taken appropriate measures to keep the exceedance period as short as possible. in two cities (Athens and Thessaloniki).

Finally, systematic overpricing of microparticles continued mainly in Thessaloniki, and therefore, in 2021, Greece was classified as a European Court. Yesterday, the city’s first verdict in this case was announced.

“By today’s decision, the court finds that Greece has violated its obligations under Community law by failing to systematically and continuously exceed the daily limit for PM10 from 2005 to 2012, during 2014 and, subsequently, again from 2017 to 2019 in the village of Thessaloniki,” the European Court said in a statement. “Furthermore, the court concluded that Greece, by failing to take appropriate measures since 11 June 2010 to enforce the daily PM10 limit in the same locality, violated its obligations under the directive, and in particular the obligation to ensure that that the air quality plans provide for appropriate measures so that the period of exceeding this limit is as short as possible.”

The responses of the Greek authorities did not satisfy the committee – in fact, they rejected the argument of the Greek authorities that most of the pollution is due to the transfer of dust from the Sahara, since “the surplus remained in Thessaloniki even after the removal of the contribution of natural sources (for example, dust from the Sahara)”.

The main source of suspended fine particles is the combustion of fossil fuels and biomass, industrial activities and vehicle traffic. Increased microparticle values ​​affect the lungs and blood circulation.