Serbia’s Ombudsman, Zoran Pasalic, has started a process of monitoring the activities of the Serbian Ministry of Environment as the Ministry “has not implemented concrete measures over a long period of time regarding citizens’ complaints about excessive air pollution,” said the Ombudsman’s office.
Underlining that the procedure was launched on his own initiative, the Ombudsman recalled that “in 2018, air quality in Serbia was officially classified as belonging to “third category” in Belgrade, Kraljevo, Valjevo, Kragujevac, Subotica, Sremska Mitrovica, Pancevo, Uzice, Smederevo and Kosjeric”.
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“The trend continued into 2019. Excessive air pollution in Belgrade, as well as in other cities in Serbia, which in recent months, have also seen high concentrations of PM 10 and/or PM2.5 suspended particles, has justifiably outraged the Serbian citizens and has unequivocally indicated the need to take urgent measures to initiate all recommended air quality safety measures”, the Ombudsman says.
He asked the Ministry to explain “why, despite negative air quality assessments in 2018, the Ministry has taken neither timely measures to reduce air pollution nor improved energy efficiency and whether, in relation to the main identified causes of air pollution, it plans or proposes the adoption of urgent short and long-term measures to remove them.”
The Ombudsman also asks the Ministry to explain why it has not done so yet.
Pasalic is also concerned whether people in Serbia are regularly and completely informed about the current situation, i.e. „whether citizens are provided with sufficient information on the type and extent of information on measured values, their importance and the impact they may have on their health“.
(Nedeljnik, 13.01.2020)
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