'Polluter Pays' Principle Not Applied to EU Site Remediation, Court of Auditors Finds

摘要

The European Union's "polluter pays" principle is not being applied to the remediation of contaminated sites, meaning that public funds, including EU funds, are left to bear the cost, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) said in a report published April 18. In an investigation of 21 remediation projects that were partly paid for by EU funds, the court found that the company or organization responsible for the contamination paid the full restoration costs in none of the cases, though in some cases they paid part of the costs.