CYPRUS COULD face crippling fines for failing to get rid of the 60 landfill sites still in operation across the country, parliament heard yesterday.
Interior Minister Eleni Mavrou yesterday briefed parliament on the situation regarding the pending closure of landfill sites and their replacement with waste management plants.
Last June, the European Commission launched legal proceedings against Cyprus for failing to meet the relevant EU directive deadlines. Cyprus and Lithuania are the only countries that have failed to meet the directive’s requirements.
As a result, Cyprus could face “huge sums” in penalties, said Mavrou.
Some years ago, Greece was fined by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) €15,000 a day for failing to close a landfill site in Crete. More recently, the Court has been considering fines of up to €35,000 a day.
Should the ECJ fine Cyprus the same for each landfill still in operation, the near-bankrupt island could be facing a fine of up to €1 million a day until it meets its EU obligations.
According to Mavrou, if tenders are not invited before the end of the year for new waste management plants, then Cyprus also risks losing access to EU funding, which covers two thirds of the cost of the plants.
However, if the ball gets rolling before Cyprus is called before the ECJ, it will be in a better position to argue against the imposition of crippling fines.
Assuming the tenders process starts before the end of the year, then Cyprus could possibly limit the number of penalties to cover only three or four landfills, as opposed to the 60 still in operation. This would still cost the cash-strapped country around €7-8m a year in penalties.
Even if tenders are launched before the end of the year, contracts will not likely be signed until next April, meaning projects will not get completed until mid-2015.
Mavrou put the delays down to endless dialogue and public presentations. She called for an end to dialogue with all interested stakeholders, saying now was the time for decisions.