EU court condemns Germany for exceeding nitrate limits

The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) ruled on Thursday (21 June) that Germany had breached EU law by allowing an excessive use of manure as a fertiliser, thus violating the limits set out in the EU’s nitrates directive which aims to reduce water pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources.

“Manure doesn’t appear out of nowhere – industrial livestock farming is the clear culprit. We’re up to our necks in crap and the solution is not to stand on our tippy toes, but to drain the slurry. The manure problem isn’t only in Germany, a good start would be for the EU to stop funding the factory farms that pump it out,” said Greenpeace EU agriculture policy director Marco Contiero.

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