14 DAY TRIAL // It turns out the European Commission has a bone to pick with the United Kingdom. Long story short, it is now trying to bully the country into reducing air pollution and thus better protect its population.
Media reports say that, this past February 20, the European commission launched legal proceedings against the United Kingdom's government.
According to Click Green, it did so because the country has until now failed to implement measures that would help it meet legally binding air quality standards currently in place in the European Union.
Now that the European Commission has launched a legal action against its government, the United Kingdom has two months to prove that it is truly committed to reducing air concentrations of carcinogenic diesel fumes.
Failure to do so will lead to a legal process that will likely translate into the country's being made to pay fines amounting to several million pounds.
The air pollutant that the European Commission wants the United Kingdom to deal with without delay is nitrogen dioxide, information made available to the public says.
According to several reports, air concentrations of both this compound and several other pollutants currently spike on a regular basis in as many as 16 regions across the country.
“The Commission has launched legal proceedings against the UK for its failure to cut excessive levels of nitrogen dioxide, a toxic gas,” the Commission writes in a press release.
“Nitrogen dioxide is the main precursor for ground-level ozone causing major respiratory problems and leading to premature death. City-dwellers are particularly exposed, as most nitrogen dioxide originates in traffic fumes,” it adds.
Presently, air pollution in the United Kingdom is estimated to cause about 29,000 premature deaths on a yearly basis. Besides, exposure to airborne harmful compounds has been linked to heart attacks and cases of underdeveloped lungs in children.
“This much-needed legal action will hopefully force the Government to take urgent steps to end a national scandal that causes tens of thousands of people to die prematurely each year because of air pollution,” environmentalist Jenny Bates commented on the Commission's decision to compel the United Kingdom to improve air quality.