2

That application has been made in an action for failure to fulfil obligations under Article 259 TFEU, brought by the Czech Republic on 26 February 2021 and seeking a declaration that the Republic of Poland has failed to fulfil its obligations under: – Article 4(1) and (2) of Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment (OJ 2012 L 26, p. 1), as amended by Directive 2014/52/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 (OJ 2014 L 124, p. 1) (‘the EIA Directive’), read in conjunction with Article 4(4) to (6), Article 5(1) and (2) and Articles 6 to 9 of that directive, by authorising the extension of lignite extraction for a period of six years, without conducting an environmental-impact assessment; – Article 6(2) to (7), Article 7(5), Articles 8 and 9 and Article 11(1) of the EIA Directive, by allowing the exclusion of the public concerned from the procedure for the grant of development consent; – Article 11(1) of the EIA Directive, by declaring the decision of the Regional Director for Environmental Protection in Wrocław (Poland) of 21 January 2020 on the environmental conditions relating to the project for the continued operation of the Turów (Poland) lignite deposit until the year 2044 (‘the EIA decision’) immediately enforceable; – Article 4(1)(a)(ii) and (b)(ii) of Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy (OJ 2000 L 327, p. 1), by failing to include in the EIA decision a potential procedure to be followed in the event that exemptions are not granted for the bodies of water concerned under Article 4(5) of that directive; – Article 6(2) to (7), Article 7(1), (2) and (5) and Article 8 of the EIA Directive, by failing to allow the participation of the public concerned and of the Czech Republic in the procedure which resulted in the decision of the Minister for Climate of the Republic of Poland of 20 March 2020 on the amendment to development consent No 65/94 for the extraction of lignite from the Turów deposit, by which the development consent for the extraction of lignite at that mine was extended for six years (‘the development consent for the extraction of lignite until 2026’); – Article 9(1) and (2) of the EIA Directive, by failing to publish the development consent for the extraction of lignite until 2026 and by failing to communicate the development consent to the Czech Republic in a comprehensible form; – Article 11(1) of the EIA Directive, by failing to enable judicial review of the development consent for the extraction of lignite until 2026; – Article 7 of Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information and repealing Council Directive 90/313/EEC (OJ 2003 L 41, p. 26), by failing to publish the development consent for the extraction of lignite until 2026; – the principle of sincere cooperation referred to in Article 4(3) TEU, by failing to provide complete information in relation to the procedure for the grant of development consent for the extraction of lignite until 2026; – Article 2(1) of the EIA Directive, read in conjunction with Article 4(1) of that directive, by failing, in the development consent for the extraction of lignite until 2026, to have sufficient regard to the EIA decision; and – Article 8a(1)(b) of the EIA Directive, by failing adequately to set out all the environmental conditions in the development consent for the extraction of lignite until 2026.