June 15 (SeeNews) - The European Commission has said it is urging Romania to ensure proper monitoring of air quality across its territory to ensure compliance with EU standards
"Air pollution poses a major risk to public health causing more than 25,000 premature deaths per year in this Member State alone," the EC said in a press release on Wednesday, announcing the sending of a letter of formal notice, the first step of an infringement procedure launched against 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," the EU executive body said.
Proper monitoring is a fundamental pre-requisite for verifying compliance with the different EU air quality standards but Romania has failed to establish a monitoring network compliant with those standards and requirements to effectively assess and improve air quality, the Commission said.
($=0.8956 euro)