Citizens need to know to what extent the air that they are breathing is safe, particularly in countries that are being investigated or sued by the European Commission for breaching environmental laws that seek to protect the quality of the air.
In case of such breaches (called infringements in the EU jargon) the European Commission has a right to investigate Member State behavior, including the legal and practical measures they implemented in order to ensure clean air for everyone. The process itself includes intense correspondence between the Commission and the Member States that allegedly infringed EU law.
There is an enormous public interest, and a public right, in knowing what emissions are polluting our environment and also in knowing what is being done by the Commission and the Member States to prevent this from occurring.
This is why we are seeking information about the infringement proceedings that are currently taking place between the European Commission and Hungary, and the Czech Republic, respectively.
So take action now and show your support for clean air and the right to know when it’s not clean!
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EU citizens have the right to live in a clean environment.
Currently Hungary and the Czech Republic are both being investigated by the European Commission for their failure to respect the EU’s air quality directive that stipulates the levels of air pollution that are safe for European citizens to live with.
We are trying to find out the gravity of the breach of this law and we also want to know how this is being corrected by the EU institutions in order to protect our health.
However, we are told that we do not have the right to access this information because it is part of an ongoing investigation and because “infringement proceedings” are usually carried out in a “climate of confidence”.
This campaign is led by Justice and Environment.
