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August 27 2022
13:26 pm
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Night – AFP
O-de-France chief Xavier Bertrand has warned the French government of untreated British sewage flowing into the English Channel and the North, stressing that it is an “environmental disaster” that has worsened since “Brexit”.
Bertrand, in a letter addressed to the Secretary of State for the Sea, Herve Perville, said that “the images transmitted by several international media show the flow of untreated sewage in abundance into the English Channel and the North Sea from the shores of the United Kingdom.”
He added that this is a “great concern because of the pollution caused by this.”
The French official added that this situation, “which was condemned by several associations, is not new, but it seems that it is worsening since Britain’s exit from the European Union, as the United Kingdom has exempted itself from European environmental laws,” as stated in the message distributed to the media.
Bertrand stressed that “a British legislative text exempts water companies from the obligation to treat wastewater before dumping it into the sea.”
He considered that this practice by companies constitutes a “real environmental disaster”, expressing his hope that the French government will ask Britain to “respect the environmental requirements of the European Union regarding the disposal of untreated sewage.”
The European Commission said Thursday that it would soon respond to complaints from members of the European Parliament on the matter.
“We count on the UK to respect all of its legal obligations, in order to prevent any health and environmental damage,” European Commissioner for the Environment Virginijus Sinkevicius wrote in a tweet on Twitter on Friday.
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