March 8 (SeeNews) - The European Commission said on Thursday it has decided to refer Croatia to the Court of Justice of the EU for failing to ensure an adequate level of protection of human health and the environment at Crno brdo site in Biljane Donje, near the town of Benkovac.
The waste should have been managed in accordance with the EU rules on waste by the end of 2015 at the latest, however, Croatia has made no progress on the ground, the Commission said in its March package of infringement decisions.
For almost four years, the industrial waste deposited at Crno brdo illegal landfill has not been cleared and properly managed, threatening to contaminate groundwater and air, the Commission noted.
Crno brdo is currently used as a depository of a large amount of production residue of processing of ferromanganese and silicomanganese. As the Croatian authorities failed to classify that material as waste in line with the respective directive, approximately 140,000 tons of this potentially harmful stone aggregate are deposited directly on soil, threatening local inhabitants and the environment.
"Under EU law, Croatia should have put in place measures for the protection of groundwater and the prevention of the dispersion of the harmful particles through the air", the European Commission said.
The European Commission opened the infringement proceedings against Croatia in March 2015, followed by a reasoned opinion sent in November 2016.
Since then there has been no progress in ensuring proper waste management, the Commission concluded.