The Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment has said that it is implementing a comprehensive plan which includes all actions and infrastructure necessary so that Cyprus will no longer be in contravention of EU rules on waste management. 

“The need to end Cyprus’ long-standing deviation from European goals and laws on waste constitutes a priority of the administration of Nikos Christodoulides,” a Ministry press release issued here on Wednesday evening says.

It is for this reason, that the Ministry “implements a comprehensive plan which includes all actions and infrastructure necessary, so that Cyprus will stop been in contravention and be in a negative first position on matters of waste.” 

The European Commission announced earlier on Wednesday that it decided to refer Cyprus to the Court of Justice of the EU for a second time for failing to comply with an earlier decision on the landfills in Vati and Kotsiatis, asking for the imposition of fines. 

“The plan has been approved by the Council of Ministers in August 2024 and includes both the network of both mixed and separately collected waste processing plants as well as the upgrade of existing infrastructure within a specific timeframe,” the Ministry noted.

Among other things, the Environment Ministry said that it has informed the European Commission in September 2024 about its actions and timeframe over the restoration of illegal landfills. 

Regarding a reasoned opinion the Commission has sent Cyprus and another ten member states for not transposing or only partly transposing into national law the Directive 2023/958 regarding the revised EU ETS rules applying to the aviation sector, which had a transposition deadline of 31 December 2023, the Ministry noted that that a bill has been already approved by the Cabinet and has been submitted to the House of Representatives on January 23, 2025.