RIGA - The European Commission's representative in Latvia said the commission was set to take Latvia to court for failing to implement a directive on curbing aviation noise.
"Noise in the vicinity of airports is an especially important issue for citizens of Europe. Latvia must adopt the legislation as soon as possible in order to ensure a harmonized solution for the noise problem in the vicinity of EU airports," EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot said last week.
The EC announced in July that it had sent three EU member states, including Latvia, warning letters criticizing the states for not implementing the EU anti-noise directive. Estonia and Malta were the two other.
The EC noted that such a warning letter was the last step before lodging a formal complaint with the court.
Arnis Muiznieks, director of the aviation department at the Transport Ministry, told the Baltic News Service that Latvia had met all requirements regarding aviation noise and that the EC had made a mistake in sending Latvia a warning. "It must be a mistake 's we have no problems with noise," Muiznieks said.
He also claimed that airplanes that do not meet noise requirements do not fly to Latvia.
