The European Commission takes Belgium to the Court of Justice of the European Union, because Belgium did not adequately enough reduced the particulate matter concentration in the air. Belgium has exceeded the European norms in three regions (not surpassing the daily standard of 50 micrograms particulate matter per cubic meter no more than 35 days in one year).
The commission acknowledges “Measures have been taken”, they have warned Belgium twice before, “but which to date have not been sufficient to solving the problem, and the deadline for compliance has long passed”. Particulate matter has proven to shorten human life and claims more victims each year than road accidents. Belgium now faces multimillion fines.
