On the Terra dei Fuochi in Campania, “for a decade now, a plurality of actions have been put in place that have sought to achieve the goals of environmental remediation and protecting the health of citizens. Objectively, what has been done is not enough and it is clear that there is a need to give further impetus to the remediation actions with greater speed as the European Court ruling also reminds us.” Thus the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, at a hearing in the Ecomafie Committee on the Terra dei Fuochi dossier. According to the minister, “there are so many actions underway, I make a judgment on something that has been going on for 30, 40 years, and I draw on a personal level the conclusion of the need for stronger coordination. Maybe we will get rid of the ministry’s competencies, but on this reality the excess of involvement and consultation — and this is a personal judgment — leads to not having coordination as should be necessary.” In relation to reclamation operations, “it should be recalled that the area is not identified as a site of national interest and that, therefore, the competence for the reclamation procedure is not attributed to the Ministry of the Environment, but to the Campania Region. To date, the Sin perimeter procedure, as governed by the Consolidated Environmental Act, is still ongoing. After an initial perimeter proposal, on which the competent Division carried out the preliminary investigation, it emerged that the Campania Region needed to revise this perimeter. The ministry’s commitment is to quickly reach a successful conclusion of the perimeter of the Sin of the Giugliano vast area, in order to give an immediate signal to the territory and also to the requests of the European Court itself,” Pichetto stressed. The minister then recalled how “according to the European Court, the lack of organicity in the action of the authorities in charge, the slowness and partiality of some interventions are elements that suggest that the Italian authorities have not acted with the diligence required by the seriousness of the situation and have not shown that they have done everything that could be required to protect the lives of the claimants. Italy was ordered to adopt, without delay and in any case within two years from the date on which the judgment becomes final,general measures capable of adequately addressing the pollution phenomenon in question, in line with the recommendations outlined. The remarks made by the judgment, with respect to which, however, an assessment is underway with the State Attorney’s Office regarding the feasibility of an appeal to the ‘Grand Chamber,’ and the prospective timeline, therefore require immediate action by all institutions involved. The actions that the ministry will pose in the coming months will be marked by a strong spirit of institutional collaboration, without prejudice to the specific competencies of each institutional actor,” he concluded.
(ITALPRESS).
-Photo: Ipa Agency-
Pichetto “What has been done on the Terra dei Fuochi not enough”
