Poland takes Germany to EU court over waste transports

Poland will file a complaint in the coming days with the EU Court of Justice (CJEU) over German waste illegally transported into the country, the climate and environment minister said on Wednesday.

Speaking on state-owned broadcaster TVP 1, Anna Moskwa also said her ministry was compiling a range of complaints for the court, including over a ban on the registration of new internal combustion engine vehicles.

In late May, Deputy Climate Minister Jacek Ozdoba announced a complaint to the court over Germany's refusal to clean up 35,000 tonnes of waste that had come to Poland.

"We have launched two procedures in Polish courts, Germany is in the process of collecting its waste, but we also have issues that we cannot agree on in any way," Moskwa said on Wednesday.

"The German side does not accept any arguments," she continued. "When I talk to the German minister, he informs me that these are the remit of the provinces. We are left with no alternative but to go to the CJEU. We are preparing a complaint combining all unresolved German environmental and ecological issues in order to force responsibility because there is no doubt that there are dumping grounds in Poland that belong to Germany."

The minister explained that these were sites from before the introduction of SENT (electronic transport supervision system), which started monitoring cross-border waste transportations in February 2022.