The European Commission has warned nine member countries that they might face penalties or legal action for failing to control air pollution.
Environment ministers of the UK, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic were summoned to Brussels for an air quality summit on Tuesday.
The ministers presented proposals to tackle rising particulate matter including PM2.5 and PM10, and nitrogen dioxide, but the commission felt the proposed actions were inadequate.
"At first sight, these were not substantial enough [proposals] to change the big picture. Without new and effective measures, in many cases, air quality standards will further continue to be exceeded for months and years, even well beyond 2020," the EU's environment commissioner Karmenu Vella said in a statement released after the meeting.
In a study released last year, 19 EU countries were found to be breaching the annual limit set for nitrogen dioxide. Seven countries' PM2.5 and PM10 levels were 35 times the limits permissible under the law.
The nine member countries have been given one week to submit new proposals.
The EU has already taken Poland and Bulgaria to court. In April last year, the court ordered Bulgaria take action to improve its air quality; a ruling against the Polish government is expected in the last week of February.
Vella explained why he summoned the ministers on Tuesday. "The deadlines for meeting the legal obligations have long elapsed. And some say we have waited already too long. But we can delay no more. And I have made this very clear to ministers this morning."
Some 400,000 people are still dying prematurely every year because of a massive, widespread failure to address air pollution. And many more suffer unnecessarily from air quality related diseases, according to the commission.
German environment minister Barbara Hendricks admitted during the meeting, "We are not yet where we need to be."
French environment minister Nicolas Hulot said nitrogen dioxide emissions had dropped overall in France but accepted many regions have high pollution levels, mostly because of energy and transport policies.
"We absolutely have to reverse this trend rapidly, so that every French person can breathe healthy air," he said in a statement.
Margherita Tolotto, policy officer, European Environmental Bureau, said she expected the nine countries' governments to be taken to court.
"We expect to see the commission doing so in the coming days. Legal action is the appropriate and most effective means to deal with countries breaking EU law," Tolotto said.
