EU citizens may sue countries for health-damaging dirty air, top court adviser says

 

Citizens in European Union countries may be able to sue their governments for financial compensation if illegal levels of air pollution damage their health, an adviser to Europe’s top court said on Thursday (5 May).

The adviser’s opinion follows a string of rulings at the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the EU in recent years, with around 10 EU countries including France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria found guilty of illegal air pollution.

Air pollution is responsible for roughly 300,000 premature deaths a year in Europe, according to the European Environment Agency. (...)