Maghtab

Will the EU make a difference on Maghtab?

It is clear that Maghtab has to go, irrespective of whether we join the EU or not. The deadline for closing it down is by 2004. But this only means we will no longer dump waste there. It is less clear when, and how, the actual site will be rehabilitated into a normal landscape.

EU membership would make a difference in three main ways.

First of all, EU law puts clear legal obligations on the Maltese authorities on how to run a rubbish dump or landfill in ways that do not put public health at risk. It is evident that Maghtab is not run along these lines. This means that Maghtab is not just an unsightly hill but also a risk to our public health.

EU law says that landfilling must be the last resort and only the waste that cannot be reused or recycled should be sent there. Waste must also be separated. In particular, waste that is dangerous must be separated from other waste. Landfills must be organised and managed in specific ways which are environment and health friendly.

Clearly, little or none of this is respected with regard to Maghtab. The same applies to the Qortin landfill in Gozo. However, with EU membership, there would be clear legal obligations on our national authorities that must be respected. Both Maghtab and Qortin landfills will have to be closed down. The bulk of Gozo's waste will be transported to Malta and deposited in engineered landfills, the location of which is still to be decided. This is another major controversy in itself.

Secondly, EU membership will make a difference from an enforcement point of view. If there is an EU law - and in this case, there is one - it must be enforced. If it is not, ordinary citizens can complain at EU level against their own government's inaction. The matter would be investigated and the government asked to live up to its commitments. If it does not, the matter will go to the European Court and following that, if the breach persists, the government may also be fined. Of course, fines are not there simply to be a financial burden on EU countries, even if they can be quite high. They are there to act as a deterrent.

So far, there was only one occasion where the European Court of Justice fined an EU country - which incidentally related to an illegal landfill in Kouroupitos, Greece.

This case was first investigated in January 1988. Greece failed to comply and was taken to the European Court of Justice. The Court ruled on the matter in April 1992 and ordered Greece to comply. But Greece failed to do so despite the court order. At this point, the Commission once again took Greece to court requesting it to fine the country. The court ruled on the matter in July 2000 and for the first time fined an EU country for failing to comply with a court judgment.

Greece was fined Lm8,000 a day until it complied with the judgment. It had taken more than 12 years to get to this point.

Finally, Greece changed tack and in February 2001 the landfill was closed down. Greece also prepared a waste management plan for the area and opened a temporary waste facility until a permanent installation was constructed. Because of this development, the Commission announced that Greece should stop paying the daily fine from the date of the closure of the site. This means that Greece paid a total fine of around Lm1.7 million.

Finally, EU membership would make a difference in terms of who pays to get rid of Maghtab. We all know that cleaning up our environmental mess means that there is a huge bill to pay. And this may explain, in part, why things have been left lying for so long.

EU membership will not mean a blank cheque to rid us of our environmental problems. But it will mean that the EU will share in the significant financial burden to clean up Maghtab and to address other environmental concerns, such as sewage treatment and so on.

In Greece's case, the EU is providing EU funding from its cohesion fund to build a mechanical recycling and composting unit and a landfill in the region.

After membership, Malta is expected to qualify for EU funding for environmental projects, although the exact amount of funding is still being negotiated. It is clear that a project relating to the cleaning up of Maghtab would qualify for EU funding. The costs involved in implementing a solid waste strategy for Malta has already been estimated at around Lm70 million.

Malta-EU Information Centre: Tel: 25909192; Fax: 21227580; E-mail address: euinfo.mic@magnet.mt; Website: www.mic.org.mt