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(2004/C 84 E/0347)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0045/04

by Monica Frassoni (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(20 January 2004)

Subject:   Failure to carry out prior checks and a simultaneous environmental impact assessment on the entire building project coordinated by Impreglio SpA on the coastline of Sa Sea — Tentizzos in the municipality of Bosa (NU), Sardinia, Italy

Projects covering four plots of land for the construction of tourist facilities (housing, hotels, holiday homes, services, golf courses, etc.) on the coast at Sa Sea — Tentizzos in the municipality of Bosa (NU), have been publicly announced (1). They will adjoin one another, together forming — according to press reports — a single project accounting for a total of 350 000 cubic metres, coordinated by Impreglio SpA.

A forthcoming request for Community funding (20 % of the declared overall investment of EUR 225 million) has also been announced.

On several occasions the environmental organisations ‘Friends of the Earth’ and ‘Gruppo d'intervento giuridico’ have requested that an environmental impact assessment (2) be carried out by the competent Community, national, regional and local authorities, since the area is one of the few broad stretches of unspoilt coastline on the Mediterranean.

The area is under an environmental conservation order (3), much of it requiring total conservation (4), and is included in the proposed site of Community importance ‘Hinterland of and areas between Bosa, Capo Marrargiu and Porto Tangone’ (Code No ITB000041) within the meaning of Directive 92/43/EEC (5) on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (6).

The environmental impact assessment procedure has now been launched for one single section (35 000 cubic metres in the village of Sa Sea) at the behest of Tecnestudio, run by the architect Gianni Delitala, although the Autonomous Region of Sardinia is also aware of the scope of the project (7), in blatant violation of the Community and national provisions which make a global assessment of the proposed measures compulsory (cf. for example, Court of Justice case 435/97 of 16.9.1999; Lazio Regional Administrative Court, No 1456 of 16.12.2002).

It does not appear that any environmental impact assessment has been carried out.

Can the Commission say:

Answer given by Mr Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(8 March 2004)

As far as Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment (10) (EIA Directive) as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997 (11) is concerned, this Directive provides that Member States must ensure that, before development consent is given, projects likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue, inter alia, of their nature, size or location, are made subject to an assessment of the environmental effects. These projects are defined in Article 4 which refers to Annex I and II of the Directive.

Golf courses are not specifically mentioned in the Annexes of the Directive. As for holiday villages and hotel complexes outside urban areas and associated developments, these are found in Annex II point 12(c). The projects mentioned by the Honourable Member could fall under Annex II. For Annex II projects, Member States have to determine, either through a case by case examination or according to thresholds or criteria, whether the project is to be made subject to an assessment because of its likely significant effects on the environment taking into account the relevant selection criteria set out in Annex III of the Directive. In the case where the Member State decides that the project will have significant effects on the environment, an environmental impact assessment has to be carried out.

The project mentioned by the Honourable Member is located within a Site of Community Importance proposed by Italy in accordance with Article 4 of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992, on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora. It is therefore subject to Article 6 of the same Directive, which defines under which conditions a project likely to have a significant impact on a Special Protection Area or Site of Community Importance can be authorised. Should the project be likely to have a significant impact, its approval without fulfilling the conditions specified in Article 6 would, therefore, constitute a breach of the Directive.

In addition, the Commission has recently registered a complaint for bad application of Directive 85/337/EEC, as amended by Directive 97/11/EC, to this specific project. Should the Commission conclude that Community law is being breached in the case in question, it would not hesitate, as the Guardian of the EC Treaty, to take all necessary measures, including infringement procedures under Article 226 of the EC Treaty, in order to ensure the observance of relevant Community law.

On the basis of information obtained from the Sardinian Regional Authorities, the Commission is finally able to state that the works referred to by the Honourable Member were not cofinanced under the European Regional Development Fund.

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(1)  Cf. ‘L'Unione Sarda’, dated 13.9.2003, and ‘La Nuova Sardegna’ dated 14.9.2003.

(2)  Directive 97/11/EC (Annex II, point 12, letter (c)) which amended and supplemented the earlier Directive 85/337/EEC (Annex II, point 11, letter (a)), Presidential Decree of 12 April 1996 (Articles 5 and 10; Annex B, point 8, letter (a)) and Sardinian Regional Law No 1/1999 (Article 31), amended and supplemented by Sardinian Regional Law No 17/2000 (Article 17) and Sardinian Regional Law No 3/2003 (Article 20).

(3)  Legislative Decree No 490/1999, Articles 139, 140 (specified in the Ministerial Decree of 16 June 1972) and 146(1) (a), (g) and (m).

(4)  Regional Law No 23/1993, Article 2(1), letter (a) banning any temporary alteration to the territory of the whole coastal strip north of Bosa included in the municipalities of Bosa (NU) and Villanova Monteleone (SS) until final approval of the new regional planning programme, within the meaning of and for the purposes set out in Article lb of Law No 431/1985 by virtue of Regional Ministerial Decree P.I. and BB. CC. of 23 December 1985, No 3005.

(5)OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7.

(6)  Implemented by virtue of Presidential Decree No 357/1997 as subsequently amended and supplemented (official list contained in Ministerial Decree No 65 of 3 April 2000).

(7)  With regard to the projects, files 1042/02, 1043/02, 1044/02 and 1045/02 are pending with the Regional department for the conservation of Nuoro.

(8)OJ L 73, 14.3.1997, p. 5.

(9)OJ L 175, 5.7.1985, p. 40.

(10)OJ L 175, 5.7.1985.

(11)OJ L 73, 14.3.1997.

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