Greece hit with millions in fines after decade of delays in closing Zakynthos dump

(CN) — Europe’s top court hit Athens with a multimillion-euro fine Thursday for allowing leakage to continue for over a decade at a toxic landfill on the island of Zakynthos, home to a marine park protecting loggerhead sea turtles.

The Court of Justice of the European Union said Greece simply failed to do what it was told 11 years ago. For years, the landfill sat untouched despite a binding 2014 ruling, so the judges have now ordered Athens to pay a 5.5-million euro fine (about $6.4 million) upfront and another 12,500 euros (around $14,500) for every day the site remains unrestored.

Behind the turquoise waters and postcard views of Zakynthos lies a long struggle with garbage. The island’s only landfill opened in the early 1980s to keep up with booming tourism, yet it was never built to handle the millions of visitors who came each summer.

By the mid-2000s, heaps of trash were spilling down the hillside, foul smells drifted over nearby resorts and dirty runoff was seeping into the soil. Environmental groups warned that the pollution was creeping dangerously close to the nesting beaches of the Caretta caretta turtle, which was the very reason Zakynthos’ southern coast was made a protected marine park.

The European Commission stepped in after years of complaints, finding that the dump had been operating without even basic safety systems required under EU law. In 2014, the court ruled it illegal and ordered Greece to close and restore the site.

Waste stopped coming back in 2017, but the landfill was never properly shut down or cleaned up. The court said the long-promised cleanup plans and impact studies are still waiting for official approval, tangled in red tape. Inspectors say the site continues to leak and reek, with polluted runoff and foul odors drifting over the Kalamaki coast.

Athens blamed slow progress on Greece’s tricky geography, scattered islands and layers of bureaucracy. The court wasn’t convinced, saying those hurdles don’t excuse breaking EU law.

“A member state cannot rely on provisions, practices or situations of its internal legal order, including practical difficulties, particularly those arising from geographical features, to justify noncompliance with obligations arising under EU law,” the judgment said.

The court made clear that shutting the gates was just the beginning. Greece still had to seal, restore and make the site safe, yet its efforts barely moved the needle. More than 10 years on, judges said, the landfill remains open and unrepaired.

When deciding the fine, the court weighed how long Greece had dragged its feet and how much damage the neglect had caused. The judges called the breach serious, pointing to clear, long-term risks for both people and the environment. They also reminded Athens this was not its first warning, noting that Greece has spent decades clashing with Brussels over illegal dumps and failed cleanups dating back to the 1990s.

The commission had pushed for a steeper daily fine, but the court dialed it back slightly, saying the amount struck the right balance. It was still high enough, the judges said, to make sure Greece finally gets the job done.

Kleoniki Pouikli, assistant professor of EU law and sustainability at Utrecht University, said the ruling “confirms in a painful way Greece’s persistent and systematic incompliance with EU waste law.” She noted that the court has sanctioned Athens multiple times since the 1990s for illegal landfills and poor waste management, adding that the Zakynthos case “highlights the urgent need to end this long-standing pattern of tolerated illegality and to ensure full restoration of a site of exceptional ecological importance.”

While the fines are meant to spur cleanup, the ruling’s tone made clear that patience has run thin.

“These steps have remained very limited and insufficient to demonstrate any real improvement in the situation of that landfill and, in any event, have not led, more than eleven years after that judgment was delivered, to the definitive decommissioning and rehabilitation of the site,” the court said.

Simon Tans, lecturer in environmental law at Wageningen University, said the case shows how the EU is getting tougher on countries that keep ignoring its rulings. “The court made clear that a member state’s past record now plays a real role in setting penalties,” he said, noting that environmental and public-health risks “are treated as particularly serious.” He added that repeated violations “directly aggravate future fines,” giving Brussels more leverage to make governments comply.

A spokesperson for the European Commission said it noted the judgment and emphasized that EU waste rules aim “to reduce air, water and soil pollution” and that full enforcement “is essential to protect human health and the environment.”

Greek authorities did not respond to a request for comment.

The ruling leaves Athens with little room to hide. After years of delay, Greece must finally finish the cleanup and show that its environmental promises under EU law actually mean something.

The judgment is final and can’t be appealed, so the fines will keep piling up until the landfill is fully restored. If Greece keeps stalling, the commission can head back to court to confirm non-payment or push for even tougher penalties, keeping the pressure on until the job is done.

Courthouse News reporter Eunseo Hong is based in the Netherlands.