MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Air quality in Italy – E-000385/2025

Question for written answer  E-000385/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Dario Tamburrano (The Left), Valentina Palmisano (The Left), Cristina Guarda (Verts/ALE), Benedetta Scuderi (Verts/ALE), Mario Furore (The Left), Gaetano Pedulla’ (The Left), Ignazio Roberto Marino (Verts/ALE)

The European Environment Agency estimates that, in 2022, air pollution from fine particulate matter caused 239 000 premature deaths in Europe, including 48 600 in Italy[1].

Directive 2008/50/EC, which Italy transposed by means of Legislative Decree No 155/2010[2], lays down that the limit value of 50 μg/m³ of PM₁₀ may not be exceeded more than 35 times a year[3]. However, many sampling points in Italy recorded a much higher number of exceedances of PM₁₀ limits than that[4]. Those breaches come after the Court of Justice of the European Union, in its judgments of 10 November 2020 in case C-644/18[5] and of 12 May 2022 in case C-573/19[6], had already established that Italy had violated Directive 2008/50/EC by exceeding the PM₁₀ and nitrogen dioxide limit values and had taken action in that regard.

In view of the above, what further steps does the Commission intend to take to ensure that Italy keeps to the limits established in Directive 2008/50/EC?

Submitted: 28.1.2025

• [1] EEA, Europe’s air quality status 2024, https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/europes-air-quality-status-2024.
• [2] Legislative Decree of 13 August 2010, No 155, https://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:decreto.legislativo:2010-08-13;155.
• [3] Annex XI, point B, Directive 2008/50/EC, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:02008L0050-20150918
• [4] For example, Lazio’s regional environmental protection agency, ARPA Lazio recorded 68 exceedances at the Frosinone Scalo monitoring point, 54 in Cassino and 77 in Ceccano. ARPA Lazio, weekly bulletins: https://www.arpalazio.net/main/aria/sci/basedati/bollettini/bs.php?year=2024.
• [5] Judgment of the Court of 10 November 2020 – European Commission v Italian Republic (Case C-644/18), https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:62018CJ0644.
• [6] Judgment of the Court of 12 May 2022 – European Commission v Italian Republic (Case C-573/19), https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:62019CA0573.