coal

New EU rules entering into force today, to limit pollution from power plants, will also apply in most Western Balkan countries. But the region’s governments are so far acting like they don’t exist.

Results of more than half a year of independent air pollution monitoring in the Balkans have been launched today. During a conference at the European Parliament, MEPs, European Commission and Energy Community representatives, NGOs and citizens groups called for urgent action on air pollution in the Western Balkans.

In the Western Balkans, air pollution can be a fatal problem, made worse by some of those countries’ energy policies. Ioana Ciuta sheds light on the region’s developing crisis, which is claiming lives at an alarming rate.

Almost all the countries in the Balkan region are planning to build new coal power plants, but there has been virtually no mention of the need for them to comply with new pollution standards.

Unsuccessful in making a coal power plant reduce abhorrent pollution levels, the village of Golemo Selo, Bulgaria is trying to “move” to a new municipality, hoping to have more say in matters concerning its citizens’ health and livelihoods.