Three Romanian cities risk EU sanctions due to air pollution

25,000 Europeans die every year because of air pollution, statistics shows. According to European Commission, three major Romanian cities could be sanctioned by Brussels officials, as digi24.ro informs. It’s about Bucharest, Iasi and Brasov.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Environment claims that Romania has no problems with pollution, using data that centralizes the information of 100 stations monitoring the air quality. Moreover, the ministry notes that there is no problem in these three major cities in this context.

One reason for which Iasi is blacklisted by the European Commission regarding the air pollution is the heavy traffic. Without the ring road, Iasi city hall asked the Regional Direction of Roads and Bridges to restrict truck access to the city, but its representatives rejected it.

European regulations say that 35 exceedances of indexes that ensure a healthy environment are allowed in one year. The situation in Iasi is worrying for 2017. There were 125 indexes’ exceedances for all stations this year already, compared to only 70, recorded in 2016.

There are two other Romania cities where air quality is at medium level – Medgidia and Slatina.

In June, European Commission has sent a letter of formal notice to Romania over significant gaps in monitoring air pollution.

This first warning covers the monitoring network of a wide range of zones and agglomerations as well as all major pollutants including sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and oxides of nitrogen, particulate matter, lead, benzene, carbon monoxide and ozone, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.