RIGA, July 16 (LETA) - At an extraordinary meeting on Thursday, the Riga City Council agreed to a settlement with the Competition Council over Tiriga company and the waste management system in the city, and to pay a fine of EUR 0.5 million, the municipality's communications department told LETA.

During yesterday's meeting, Riga Mayor Martins Stakis was authorized to sign a settlement between the Competition Council, the Riga City Council and waste management company Getlini EKO to end legal proceedings on waste management in the city that were started in 2019.

According to the settlement agreement, the Riga City Council will pay a fine of EUR 500,000 and Getlini EKO, in which the Riga City Council owns a 97.7 percent stake - EUR 385,000. The original amount of the fines was more than EUR 6 million.

As reported, the Riga City Council and Getlini EKO landfill in 2019 entered into a EUR 686.3 million public-private partnership to manage household waste in Riga with CREB Riga, a company set up by two environmental service providers - Clean R and Eco Baltia Vide.

At the beginning of June 2019, Getlini EKO and CREB Riga established joint venture Rigas Vides Pakalpojumi, later renamed Tiriga, which was supposed to provide household waste management services in Riga for the next twenty years.

On September 9, 2019 the Competition Council banned Tiriga from signing agreements with the residents of Riga and initiated infringement proceedings against Riga City Council and Getlini EKO for violating the prohibition of abuse of dominant position.