By Christian Fraser
BBC News, Rome
The European Commission is expected to announce it is taking Italy to court over a rubbish crisis which has plagued the southern city of Naples for months.
Over 1,000 tonnes of household waste is still rotting in the streets.
Collection stopped at Christmas, when almost every dump was declared full.
Since then, the Italian government has sought to clear the backlog and set up a new processing New Alitalia bid possible says PM ...
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But the European Commission has said the proposals are "insufficient".
The European Court of Justice has the power to fine the government if it does not bring its waste management standards into line with the rest of the EU.
Cabinet meeting
It has been a hot holiday weekend in Italy and, as temperatures soar in the city of Naples, so do the frustrations of the beleaguered Neapolitans.
Despite three months of government promises, there is still some 1,300 tonnes of rubbish rotting in the streets.
This weekend, the fire brigade was called out countless times to tackle fires set by local residents. The people fear that with the approaching summer heat there is a growing risk of disease.
Many of the landfill sites around the Campania region are controlled by the local mafia, the Camorra, who have made a lucrative business out of subverting waste handling procedures and shipping in the industrial waste from the north.
And it has been a long-running problem. Over the past 13 years, the authorities are estimated to have spent over 1.3bn euros ($2bn) trying and failing to clean up the streets.
Three processing plants will finally come on line in June, but the European Commission has said that is not enough.
Last week, an official for the European Commission, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the government plan still lacked sites for treating waste and storing it, and that nothing was planned to sort it or recycle it.
Prime Minister-elect Silvio Berlusconi has confirmed he will hold the first cabinet meeting of his new government in Naples later this month.
Mr Berlusconi has said he will be in Naples three days a week until he is sure he has set in motion some sort of solution to the crisis.
It is a gesture to the angry Neapolitans who dumped the centre-left in the recent election, but gestures alone are unlikely to appease the European Commission.
(BBC)
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