Bulgaria, Italy to work together to halt illegal waste shipments

Bulgaria and Italy will actively work to halt all illegal shipments of waste, the Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on January 30. He is on an official visit to Bulgaria at the invitation of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov.

PM Conte said that he had ordered the Italian Interior Minister to terminate them.

Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy: I have ordered the Italian Minister of the Interior to put an end to all illegal shipments of waste. The fact that there may be free movement of goods in the EU does not mean that we should tolerate this kind of illegal shipments.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov has said that within a week the two countries will work jointly to find out if anyone is trying to circumvent the law by taking advantage of the free movement of goods in the European Union.

Boyko Borissov, Prime Minister: It is very easy to identify where this waste came from and where it went, and the two organizations that issued the documents in Italy and Bulgaria. If the requirements of the law are not met, both parties who have violated the law will bear the responsibility.

Every pillar of illegality must absolutely be uprooted, the Italian PM said.