EU sues Italy over Naples rubbish crisis

(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission sued Italy on Tuesday before an EU court for failing to tackle a rubbish crisis around the Italian city of Naples, hoping to force Rome to take more urgent action.

The European Union's executive arm considers that Italian authorities have taken "inadequate" measures to deal with the rubbish mountain on the streets of Naples and the surrounding region of Campania.

In addition to the commission's legal action over rubbish in Naples and Campania, the EU executive said it was also sending Italy a first written warning over waste in the Lazio region around Rome.

If the court agrees with the commission that Italian authorities are not doing enough, then Brussels could impose hefty fines.

At least 1,400 tonnes of rubbish remained on Naples' streets on Monday despite efforts to clear the garbage which reached some 4,500 tonnes in early March.

"The piles of uncollected rubbish in the streets of Campania graphically illustrate the threat to the environment and human health that results when waste management is inadequate," EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said.

"Italy needs to give priority to putting in place effective waste management plans in Campania and Lazio as well as the collection and treatment infrastructure needed to implement them properly," he added.

Although the government has appointed a waste management pointman to tackle the problem, the commission said that authorities have still failed to come up with convincing plans that would lead to a long-term solution.

"A new waste management plan for the region was adopted in late December 2007 but the commission is aware that the previous plan, adopted more than 10 years ago, was never properly implemented," it lamented.

"Campania is today still far from establishing an effective management system that addresses the collection, treatment and disposal of waste," it added.

The rubbish crisis, which has dragged on for the last 14 years, has long fuelled tensions between Brussels and Rome, which are already soaring over Italian efforts to rescue ailing airline Alitalia.

The European Commission threatened in January to bring a case against Italy over the rubbish crisis at the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice.

The court ruled last month that authorities were not doing enough to tackle the crisis, which has seen mounds of rubbish gather in Naples and the surrounding Campania region in recent months as landfills reach capacity.

Many of the landfills in Campania are controlled by the regional Camorra mafia, who make a lucrative business out of subverting waste-handling procedures and shipping in industrial waste from the north.

Prime minister-elect Silvio Berlusconi vowed during his recent campaign to hold his first cabinet meeting in Naples and keep working on the rubbish crisis until it gets resolved.