FLASH NEWS
Debris invades Dubrovnik beaches, Croatia plans to sue Albania
2025-12-07 22:02:19 / AKTUALITET
Croatia is planning to sue Albania over waste that was transferred a few days ago by sea to the coast of Dubrovnik.
According to Croatian media, this thesis was raised at a meeting of the municipal council of the Croatian coastal city by councilor and lawyer Viktorija Knežević.
“After a thorough study of the situation, the answer is that theoretically we can, but practically it is very difficult to succeed, which does not mean that we should give up on the idea if nothing else helps. The most important question now is what else can we do to stop the recurrence of the phenomenon of our beaches filled with garbage ,” said Viktorija Knežević.
She stressed that the Barcelona Convention obliges all Mediterranean countries, including Albania, to take measures to reduce the amount of waste ending up in the sea. Croatia could also request that the southern Adriatic be declared a priority area in this regard.
“ Albania is in the process of EU membership negotiations, which gives Croatia a powerful tool to seek concrete and measurable results in protecting the Adriatic from waste. There is a Croatian-Albanian project with UNDP that could be expanded to include river estuaries and problematic waste dumps ,” said Knežević.
According to her, what ends up on beaches only constitutes about 20% of total waste, as about 80% of "wandering" waste sinks to the seabed.
" What we saw is just the tip of the iceberg and the real environmental burden remains under the sea, where we cannot see it with the naked eye, but our ecosystem, fishermen, tourism and marine health suffer the consequences," she added.
Knežević also pointed out that such models have already worked in the Baltic Sea, where the member states managed to drastically reduce the amount of waste on their coasts through a joint action plan. Similarly, on the Rhine River, six states have solved catastrophic pollution through the systematic implementation of existing agreements.
" UNEP/MAP projects, when the Regional Plan for Marine Litter is activated, the results are measurable. So, we can solve this. And we do it with the wise use of international instruments that exist and which we have the right to use. Because this waste did not come here. But it ends here. And therefore we must demand with a cool head that the system is finally activated to protect the coast and the citizens of Croatia, " concluded Knežević.
How did Albanian waste end up in Dubrovnik?
Strong currents in the Adriatic Sea have washed up a large amount of trash, mainly from Albania, on the coast of Dubrovnik in Croatia, causing alarm among local authorities.
Two of the city's most popular tourist spots, Banjës Beach and the Old Town, were flooded last week by a large amount of debris pulled from the sea, the New York Times reported.
It took 2-3 days to quickly clean the coastline of plastic, metals, and medical waste.
Based on the labels and materials found, most of the waste is from Albania, according to local authorities who organized a cleanup campaign. Since the Adriatic is a closed sea, its predictable currents help determine the path of the waste.
The problem is old, reports the American newspaper, which points out that for years, southern winds in the Adriatic have blown tons of garbage onto the Dubrovnik coast. Locals have even seen drowned animals.
Plastics in particular are a critical issue for the city of just 42,000 residents and 4.5 million tourist nights a year. In 2020, Dubrovnik even signed a commitment to reduce plastic waste.
Meanwhile, Croatia says it is in constant dialogue with Albania because “we know where the waste comes from.” The Foreign Ministry has even offered financial assistance for waste management in the country. We only see what floats, but a worryingly large percentage sinks and remains at the bottom, Croatian authorities add.
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