Greece has been ordered to pay a fine by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for failing to comply with a 2014 judgment concerning breaches of EU waste law at a landfill site on the island of Zakynthos. Despite the earlier ruling, the member state had not taken the necessary measures to comply with that ruling.
As a result, the ECJ has imposed a financial penalty consisting of a lump sum of €5.5m and a periodic payment of €12,500 per day from the date of the new judgment until the 2014 ruling is fully implemented.
The Court said the level of the sanctions reflected the seriousness of the infringement, which posed a significant risk to the environment and human health. The proceedings, both brought by the European Commission, concern a landfill located within the Zakynthos National Maritime Park, a protected area that forms part of the habitat of the Caretta caretta sea turtle. According to the ECJ’s earlier judgment (Case C-600/12), the site was "overfull" and malfunctioning, and continued operating even though its permit had expired in 2006.
Because of the necessary measures had not been taken, the Commission launched further infringement proceedings against Greece in 2017. The Court noted that by the deadline of 28 June 2017, the member state had neither drawn up a development plan for the continued operation of the landfill in line with the requirements of the Landfill Directive nor closed the site. The landfill continued to accept waste until the end of 2017, the ECJ said in its ruling.
Furthermore, the ECJ had taken into account the large number of judgments already registered against the member state for failure to fulfil its waste management obligations, and the number of cases in which it found that the member state had failed to comply with its judgments in that area, and the fact that the infringement continued long after the 2014 judgment.
