In a written answer on 10 July 2026, Environment Commissioner Ms Roswall told MEP César Luena (S&D) that the Commission is relying on ongoing infringement proceedings and EU funding instruments to press Spain to improve waste management in regions such as La Rioja, where a recent fire at the Nájera landfill exposed persistent shortcomings in monitoring, transparency and compliance with permit conditions. The answer confirms that the Commission has already taken legal action: in 2024 it referred Spain to the Court of Justice of the EU (Case C-382/25) over illegal or uncontrolled landfills, and in the same year it sent a letter of formal notice (INFR(2024)2013) concerning the disposal of municipal waste in landfills without prior treatment, as required by EU law. The Commissioner also pointed to cohesion funding, the European Regional Development Fund and the Recovery and Resilience Facility as tools available to support Spanish authorities in shifting from landfilling to reuse and recycling, in line with the waste hierarchy set out in the Waste Framework Directive.
The answer contains no new legislative proposals or numerical targets beyond existing EU objectives, such as the 2035 goal of limiting municipal waste landfilling to 10 %. Instead, it reiterates that the competent Spanish authorities bear primary responsibility for applying EU waste law and that the Commission will continue to monitor the situation closely. The response signals that Brussels expects Spain to use available EU funds to accelerate the transition away from landfilling, but stops short of announcing additional enforcement measures or a specific timeline for remedial action.