The time for talk is over – KRONOSPAN must comply with environmental regulations and submit to regular inspections!
In view of the fact
- that citizens have repeatedly and, more recently, increasingly complained about noise, dust and odour pollution in the municipalities of Sanem and Differdange;
- that KRONOSPAN is located adjacent to densely populated residential areas and schools and that children and elderly people have also been exposed to this pollution on a daily basis for 30 years;
- that, virtually since the establishment of the KRONOSPAN plant in Luxembourg, there have been repeated incidents, accidents and emissions exceeding the limits;
- that, despite announcements that many deficiencies have been remedied, the noise, dust and odour pollution still persists;
- that, as part of its regular statutory inspections, the Environment Agency has repeatedly identified deficiencies at KRONOSPAN, but these have not been remedied promptly and consistently (the report from February 2025 listed no fewer than 12 deficiencies, some of which date back to 2018 and 2020) https://environnement.public.lu/fr/emweltprozeduren/Autorisations/Etablissements_classes/IED/rapports-inspection-ied.html
- that both the Mouvement Ecologique and the BIGS (citizens’ initiative) submitted a negative opinion (avis négatif as part of the public Commodo-Incommodo procedure) on the further expansion of the plant and demanded that the existing deficiencies and environmental problems be resolved before any expansion of the production facilities could be considered;
- that during the meeting on 26 August this year between KRONOSPAN and citizens of the municipalities of Sanem and Differdange, the citizens’ questions and concerns were not answered satisfactorily and the facts presented in the reports did nothing to allay their worries and fears;
- that the connection of the plant to the rail network and to a bus line is being delayed.
it is urgent and essential to form a COMITE D’ACCOMPAGNEMENT, as in the example of ARCELOR-MITTAL, where all stakeholders address the problems and effective solutions are finally found. This COMITE must report regularly and transparently to the outside world. This supervisory body should be composed of representatives of KRONOSPAN, experts from the environmental administration, municipal officials from Sanem and Differdange, and two members each from the Mouvement Ecologique and BIGS (citizens’ initiative). The time for talk is over – now is the time to take concrete steps to reduce environmental pollution and emissions that are hazardous to health, in the interests of local residents and the workforce (600 employees).
You can find the press release in (german & french) from BIGS (Biergerinitiativ Gemeng Suessem) and MOUVEMENT ECOLOGIQUE régionale SUD in PDF format in the downloads section here.
17 September 2025