Thursday

28th Mar 2024

EU tightens air quality rules

European governments on Monday (14 April) adopted a new directive that aims to limit the amount of particles in the air that can cause a range of health problems, from asthma to bronchitis.

Under the new directive on air quality, which was approved by environment ministers meeting in Luxembourg, member states are to establish a limit of 25 micrograms per cubic metre on the average concentration of dust particles with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The new rules require the 27 members of the EU by 2020 to reduce urban air pollution by 20 percent on levels recorded in 2010. This figure is a target value to be attained by January 2010, but will become a binding cap from 2015.

Such particles are emitted from a wide range of sources, including diesel vehicles, industrial facilities and residential fire places. They can have a significant negative impact on human health as they are small enough to be inhaled deeply in the lungs, causing asthma, emphysema and bronchitis, leading to the premature death of some 350,000 EU citizens annually.

The directive simplifies current European legislation on ambient air quality by merging five separate texts into a single legal act.

Environment commissioner Stavros Dimas welcomed the move: "The European Union has today taken a decisive step in tackling a major cause of environmental and health problems."

'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told

Italian central banker Piero Cipollone in his first monetary policy speech since joining the ECB's board in November, said that the bank should be ready to "swiftly dial back our restrictive monetary policy stance."

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us