The European Commission has long criticized that Germany does not sufficiently protect its groundwater from too much fertilizer and nitrate and therefore violates EU law. The Brussels authorities gave the German government a final deadline of two months on Thursday before the case could again land in the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and face fines of millions. This was announced by the Federal Government and the Commission. We are talking about penalties of up to 850,000 euros per day.
Nitrate in waters and in groundwater usually comes from manure, which is used in agriculture. The substance is important for plant growth. But if too much fertilizer, residues accumulate in the groundwater and in streams, rivers and in the sea. Nitric nitrite is produced by chemical processes, which can be harmful to humans.
The manure dispute
The EU Commission and Germany have been in dispute over nitrates for years. In June 2018, the ECJ had already sentenced Germany for an action brought by the authorities. Over the years, the Federal Republic of Germany did not do enough to combat over-fertilization with liquid manure and nitrate pollution of groundwater, the Luxembourg judges ruled at the time. This infringes EU law.
The verdict, however, referred to older fertilizer regulations. The Commission had complained of failures in the years prior to 2014 - but called for further improvements. The federal government tightened the fertilizer regulations in 2017, but from the point of view of the European Commission, not enough. Germany has not fully remedied the deficiencies identified by the ECJ. Therefore, the Federal Republic is still violating the Nitrates Directive, the commission said on Thursday.
MORE ON THE SUBJECT
In June, Berlin submitted further measures on groundwater protection, but the commission continued to put pressure on it. At the end of August, Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner (CDU) and Minister of the Environment Svenja Schulze (SPD) want to travel to Brussels to present how Germany wants to sharpen its fertilizer. In March 2020, the legislative process should be completed.
Klöckner had pointed out in a letter of July 8 to the federal states that it hapere in the implementation at the country level. Among other things, this involves identifying "red areas" in which the burden is particularly high and stricter rules for the application of manure are to apply. In the view of State Secretary for the Environment Jochen Flasbarth, however, the "full range" of fertilizer regulations is affected, not only the implementation of the Länder.
