Poland said it would take action against Germany over its failure to withdraw tens of thousands of tonnes of waste that Warsaw claims were illegally transported to the country.

Poland’s environment minister told a news conference that her government was filing a complaint to the European Commission in a first step that could turn into a lawsuit at the European Court of Justice if Berlin failed to remove the unspecified waste transported by German companies. 

However, with one eye on a fiercely contested national election in the autumn, Anna Moskwa also blamed the main Civic Platform opposition party, led by Donald Tusk, for encouraging foreign companies to send landfill to Poland — when he was prime minister a decade ago — and for creating “an El Dorado for waste”.