London, Europe Brief News – Tensions have flared again in an ongoing dispute between France and the United Kingdom over UK discharges of waste.
Pollution warnings have been issued for almost 50 beaches in England and Wales, after heavy rain caused sewage overflow to be diverted into rivers and the sea.
The French MEPs accuse the UK of neglecting environmental commitments and risking marine life and fishing.
British water companies have said they are investing in solving the problem.
Since its departure from the European Union, the United Kingdom had neglected its environmental commitments, the MEPs said in a letter calling for legal or political action from the European Commission.
Despite no longer being bound by EU laws, the UK was still a signatory to relevant United Nations conventions on protecting shared waters, they argued.
The three MEPs all belong to French President Emmanuel Macron’s pro-EU En Marche party. One of them, Pierre Karleskind, chairs the European Parliament’s fisheries committee.
The UK could not be allowed to neglect commitments made under Brexit and jeopardise 20 years of European progress on water quality standards, he argued.
The MEPs warn that in the short term the sewage leaks risk bathing waters on the French coast and could also harm marine biodiversity, fishing and shellfish farming.
“The Channel and the North Sea are not dumping grounds,” said Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, a Normandy politician who is also on the EU parliament’s fisheries committee.
Most of the UK has a combined sewage system, so wastewater from toilets is carried to sewage treatment works through the same pipes as rainwater.
