BRUSSELS — The European Union has ordered Italy today to clean up Naples within a month — or face legal action.
Talks this week with Italian authorities failed to show they were adhering to EU waste management laws to resolve a festering garbage collection crisis in the southern Italian city.
EU spokeswoman Barbara Helfferich says the EU has demanded proof within a month that officials are taking steps to clear the trash.
Some 250,000 tonnes of backlogged trash has been piling up on the streets of Naples since collection came to a near halt in December.
Collectors have stopped picking up garbage in Naples and the Campania region because there is no more room for the trash at dumps.
Authorities and residents have blamed organized crime infiltration of garbage collection services, bureaucracy and protests that hinder the construction of dumps.
The region has long been plagued by garbage crises. Dumps are packed to overflowing, and local communities have blocked efforts to build new ones, citing health risks.
EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas already has threatened Italy with fines to force it to comply with waste management rules. He has called for Italian authorities to set up a long-term strategy to deal with the region's waste.
The Italian government, harshly criticized for failing to clean up the streets of Naples, has appointed a commissioner to deal with the crisis. But the streets have yet to be fully cleared of the heaps of garbage that have piled up for weeks.
Some Italian regions have recently volunteered to take Neapolitan garbage.
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