Following ombudsman Zoran Pašalić’s decision to start the review of the work of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Serbia and six municipal authorities due to air pollution, the Government of Serbia held an emergency meeting and announced it would form a workgroup.
The levels of the harming, suspended particles PM2.5 and PM10 in a large number of places in Serbia in the past months (or rather past years) are above allowed limits, causing a surge in frustration among citizens.
Hundreds of people have rallied in Serbia’s capital to protest the heavy pollution that has gripped Belgrade in recent days.
Many participants in Friday’s protest wore face masks as they gathered outside City Hall and marched through downtown.
Activists behind the event said the government should take steps to address smog in Belgrade, such as improving public transportation and planting trees.
In a reaction to the protests, the Serbian ombudsman started the procedure to check what the Environment Ministry and six municipal authorities are doing, which was followed by the government’s emergency meeting.
Experts say air pollution in the Balkans is heavy because of the use of coal-fueled power plants and old cars and other factors. In the past week, thick fog added to the problem.
A report last year by the U.N. Environment Program said people living in the Western Balkans lose up to 1.3 years of life to air pollution.
Experts have warned that these and other environmental setbacks could stall efforts by Serbia and other Balkan countries to join the European Union.
However, the government appeared to downplay the crisis.
“The situation is not worse than in the past. It is worst in some cities due to the weather and fog, because there was no snow and Kosava,” Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said, referring to a strong eastern wind that often lasts several days and clears away some of the smog, which has been infrequent this winter.
President Aleksandar Vucic vowed on January 17 that the government would take long-term measures to deal with the pollution but said the effects would not be felt for another six or seven years at the earliest.
The Global Alliance on Health and Pollution, an international watchdog, said that as many as 175 per 100,000 deaths in Serbia are directly linked to pollution, ranking the European country as the ninth-worst in the world, just better than No. 8, Somalia, but worse than 10th-ranked India.
