Taraba: Lawsuit Brought by EC Reflection of Previous Ministers' Incompetence

Bratislava, December 16 (TASR) - The lawsuit filed by the European Commission (EC) to the Court of Justice of the European Union is only a reflection of the incompetence of the previous environment ministers who caused Slovakia not to have a completed sewerage system even ten years after the deadline for its completion, Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) said in response to the December package of infringement decisions submitted to the EC on Monday. In one environmental case, the EC took Slovakia to the EU Court of Justice for insufficient treatment of municipal wastewater. "I'm very glad that under my leadership the Environment Ministry has become a leader in the use of EU funds, and for this purpose and during this year alone we've contracted projects worth €600 million. We've supported municipalities with more than €100 million from the Environmental Fund. This is the exact opposite of the actions of the previous leaders at the Environment Ministry, who caused that we lost €430 million from the EU funds," stated Taraba. According to the European Commission, Slovakia isn't fully complying with its obligations regarding the collection and treatment of waste water as laid down in the 1991 Directive, which requires that municipal waste water should be collected and treated before being discharged into the environment. am