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Clean Beaches: With 430 Blue Flags Greece earns 4rd place in EU: 1st is … Luxembourg!

Greece has earned the fourth place in Europe with regards to the quality of its bathing waters. According to data published by the European Environment Agency,  97.2% of areas inspected were deemed to be outstanding.

The EEA also announced that the country was positioned third worldwide in terms of Blue Flag certification, with 430 beaches and 9 marinas for 2016.

The agency’s annual report evaluates the quality of the water from last year and highlights areas where this is expected to be maintained in the current year.

Over 1,500 bathing areas, including beaches, lakes and rivers, were inspected last year, out of which 1,499 were defined as top quality spots for swimming, the report said.

Top in EEA’s list is… Luxembourg!

“More than 90 % of bathing sites in eight Member States had excellent water quality in 2015: Luxembourg (all 11 reported bathing water sites), Cyprus (99.1 % of bathing water sites), Malta (97.7 %), Greece (97.2 %), Croatia (94.2 %), Italy (90.6 %), Germany (90.3 %) and Austria (90.2 %).

The highest numbers of bathing sites with poor water quality were found in Italy (95 bathing sites, 1.7 %), France (95 bathing sites, 2.8 %) and Spain (58 bathing sites, 2.6 %). (EEA.eu/ Detailed report here.)

I suppose, Luxembourg amazed the EU Environment controllers with its crystal clear waters in Mediterranean, North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean and the stunning unclouded clearness of its taxheaven.

PS Summer holidays, swim in the sea or lake, warm weather, sun and beautiful natural surroundings? In Luxembourg! Of course. No offense. But I think it is easier to keep clean 11 swimming sites with no access to open sea than thousands of kilometers of sea shores and waters with heavy marine traffic.

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