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The European Commission announced on Thursday, December 11, that it is referring Romania to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), accusing the country of years-long failures to comply with EU rules on ambient air-quality monitoring. The move comes after repeated warnings and follows what the Commission describes as persistent gaps in Romania’s national pollution-tracking system.
At the heart of the dispute are the Ambient Air Quality Directives, mainly Directive 2008/50/EC and Directive 2004/107/EC, which require EU Member States to monitor air pollution using a sufficient number of sampling points, placed according to strict criteria, and to ensure high-quality, reliable data. According to the Commission, Romania has failed on all of these fronts. The monitoring network still does not include enough sampling stations, several do not meet technical standards, and the resulting data fall short of mandatory quality requirements.
The Commission first raised the issue in 2017 through a letter of formal notice, followed by another in 2019, and ultimately a reasoned opinion issued in June 2023. Despite these escalating steps, Brussels says that the changes required under EU law were never fully implemented. Romanian authorities have begun modernising the national monitoring system, but the Commission argues that progress remains insufficient.
After reviewing Romania’s latest submissions, the EU executive concluded that “significant compliance gaps remain,”. The executive cited deficiencies linked to pollutants such as particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), sulphur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen oxides (NOx), heavy metals, and benzo[a]pyrene. These shortcomings mean the national network “does not provide complete and reliable information on air quality,” the Commission said in its statement, making it impossible to assess pollution levels accurately or design effective mitigation strategies.
The case forms part of a broader EU push to tighten enforcement on air-quality violations as Europe struggles with some of the highest pollution-linked mortality rates in the industrialised world. The Ambient Air Quality Directives form a central pillar of the EU’s Zero Pollution Action Plan, which aims to dramatically reduce environmental harm by 2030. By referring Romania to the EU’s top court, the Commission signals that incomplete monitoring, which is the very foundation of clean-air policy, is no longer tolerated.
If the Court finds Romania in breach, the country could ultimately face substantial fines should it continue to fall short of EU standards. For now, Brussels hopes the judicial pressure will push Romanian authorities to complete long-promised upgrades to the monitoring network and bring the country back into compliance with European law. WaL
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PICTURED ABOVE: Belgium – Brussels – Schuman – Berlaymont – Seat of the European Commission. PC: EmDee
