THE OVERCOMING OF LIMIT VALUES AND THE MANAGEMENT OF AIR QUALITY AT THE CENTER OF CLIMATE ACTION AND THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PUBLIC POWERS IN THE PROTECTION OF HEALTH: THE LEGAL PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVENESS AND PROPORTIONALITY IN THE APPLICATION OF THE DIRECTIVE 2008/50

This paper addresses the issue of exceeding the limit values by the Member States of the European Union in the framework of the regulations on ambient air quality and a cleaner atmosphere in Europe. The current Directive 2008/50 is the consequence of the normative evolution from the first partial Directives on specific polluting substances of the 1980s and to its most immediate antecedent, which was Directive 96/62 on evaluation and management of the quality of the air. The protection of human health is the true leitmotiv and primary objective of the European regulations on air quality and the reason for the quantitative criteria set forth therein. The non-compliance by the States of the same has been systematic and continued as reflected, only in part, the Court Judgments, being premonitory of the tragic situation of pandemic and loss of life in which all the States are, but especially those of the main world economies to which they never thought this situation would come to them, and with a "reflective" state model that, for three decades, has not anticipated or prepared for crises that have been happening since 2000 and that it has forced citizens to live with risk and socialize it in the face of the progressive emptying of resources. For this reason, the need for a paradigm shift in the State model towards a social and democratic State (art. 1.1 CE) whose preventive function is the prevailing one, based and built on the true rights of people who are really enforceable to the public powers with the full guarantee of individual effective judicial protection in all its length and effectiveness. Despite the low compliance with environmental regulations, two very recent Judgments of the Court against France and Germany on Directive 2008/50 on air quality open a path of hope for citizens in the firmness demonstrated by the Court in demanding responsibilities to the States and the adoption of measures "as soon as possible" through the novel application of well-known principles such as that of efficacy, proportionality, strict liability, etc .... that establish the prevalence of health protection and air quality on other foundational principles of the European Union until now untouchable and before the still surprising allegations of defense of "structural deficiencies" by the first European economic powers for not having applied environmental regulations.