Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomasevic said on Thursday that the closing down of the city's Jakusevac landfill, which was one of his main promises during the election campaign, is not likely to happen by the end of the current city administration's term, but he noted that it would be done by 2026 at the latest.

Rules set by the European Commission have changed and it has been decided that centres for the treatment of mixed waste will no longer be financed, Tomasevic said at a session of the City Assembly.

Answering questions about the fate of the Jakusevac landfill and his waste management policy, which earlier in the morning prompted yet another protest by the “Resnik” civil society group, Tomasevic explained that a month ago the city administration received the final reply from the EU that the project could not be financed with European money, adding that the city could not finance it on its own.

“Zagreb cannot finance the project on its own. We need to start anew and merge three existing projects into one. The estimated cost is 300-400 million euros,” he said, adding that talks were underway with the Economy Ministry on using national funds considering that a national waste management plan was being drafted and that it would define sources of financing.

Tomasevic denied personal responsibility for the failure to meet the election promise, promising that the problem of the Jakusevac landfill would be resolved.