EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 84/107

(2004/C 84 E/0144)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3865/03

by Marie Isler Béguin (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(9 December 2003)

Subject: Balearic Islands Sectoral Roads Masterplan

The Conseil Insular de Mallorca is seeking to push through with a new Roads Plan under the name ‘Specific Amendment of the Balearic Islands Sectoral Roads Masterplan’ adopted by Decree 87/1998 of 16 October.

The proposed amendment, which will be adopted on 1 December 2003 in the Conseil Insular de Mallorca, provides for building the Inca-Manacor motorway.

The environmental impact of this scheme is massive. At certain points, the Inca-Manacor section infringes on areas which are designated as protected natural species.

The proposed amendment, furthermore, is not backed up by adequate reports on its social justification. It is based exclusively on traffic density and speed reports, ignoring other issues such as mobility studies or studies of alternatives. Nor does it include studies of the repercussions of the opening of the Palma-Manacor railway link, which will reduce the road traffic concerned. The absence of all these studies is very serious, because the need for the scheme has not been demonstrated. In fact, the Inca-Manacor motorway link will be longer and more expensive than doubling the width of the current road, a perfectly good alternative solution.

The new Roads Plan which the Conseil Insular is intending to adopt has been the subject of much social dispute, with 23 000 complaints lodged — and ignored without any serious account being taken of possible alternatives. There is real concern that the environmental impact assessment, which will be carried out once the new Roads Plan is adopted, will not assess the alternatives either.

Does the Commission not believe that the line of the Inca-Manacor motorway provided for in the ‘Specific Amendment of the Sectoral Road Masterplan’ should be subjected to an environmental assessment which studies all the real alternatives, including doubling the width of the existing road, and encouraging more sustainable modes of transport?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(3 February 2004)

The Honourable Member refers to an amendment of ‘Specific Amendment of the Balearic Islands Sectoral Roads Masterplan’ adopted by Decree 87/1998 of 16 October 2003 that the Conseil Insular de Mallorca will adopt on 1 December 2003 and that includes a proposal for new Roads Plan. The proposed amendment provides for the building of the Inca-Manacor motorway. A similar written question E-3346/03 was already posed by Mr Miquel Mayol i Raynal (1).

At present, there is no provision in Environmental Impact Assessment Community law which requires Member States to carry out a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of their draft plans or programmes, or of proposed modifications. The position will change on 21 July 2004, the date by which Member States must complete their transposition of Directive 2001/42/EC (the so-called SEA Directive (2)), which is not applicable to plans and programmes co-financed under the current respective programming periods for Council Regulations (EC) No 1260/1999 (3) and (EC) No 1257/1999 (4). Thereafter, Member States will have to carry out an environmental assessment of plans and programmes which meet the definition in the Directive. The environmental report that forms part of the environmental assessment procedure should contain the information required in Article 5 and Annex I, including reasonable alternatives as well as an outline of the reasons for selecting the alternatives dealt with. In some circumstances, plans or programmes begun before 21 July 2004 but not adopted until after 21 July 2006 might also require assessment.

However, once application for the construction of the particular projects is made, then Council Directive 85/337/EEC (EIA Directive) as amended by Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997 (5) and dealing with the environmental assessment of certain public and private projects will be applicable. It stipulates 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 that refers to Annexes I and II of the Directive. The construction of motorways falls into Annex I point 7 (b) for which a mandatory environmental impact assessment has to be carried out. For other projects, such as modification of an existing motorway, Annex II applies. In this case, the national authorities have to determine, either through a case by case examination or according to thresholds or criteria, whether the project is to be carried out subject to an assessment because of likely significant effects on the environment taking into account the relevant selection criteria set out in Annex III of the Directive.

As regards nature conservation issues, European legislation for nature conservation includes both Council Directives 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (6) (‘Habitats Directive’) and 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds (7) (‘Birds Directive’). Implementation of both Directives aims to establish a coherent European ecological network of special areas of conservation that shall be set up under the title Natura 2000.

With the information provided by the Honourable Member, it is not possible to provide a precise assessement about the effects of the planned Inca-Manacor motorway on the proposed Natura 2000 sites in Balearic Islands, as it will be necessary to have access to maps which provide detailed information of the route selected. The map information currently available to the Commission only gives very general information as to the possible effects on some proposed areas as Sites of Community Interest (SCI) under Council Directive 92/43/EEC provisions. If this is the case, the Spanish authorities will need to demonstrate that they have followed the provisions of Article 6 of the Habitats Directive.

As further information is required, the Commission has sent a letter requesting the observations of the Spanish authorities on this issue and the possible application of the Community Directives aforementioned. The Commission will not hesitate to take all the necessary steps to ensure full compliance with this legislation.

(1) OJ C 78 E, 27.3.2004, p. 804.

(2) Directive 2001/42/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment, OJ L 197, 21.7.2001 (Article 3§9).

(3) Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying down general provisions on the Structural Funds, OJ L 161, 26.6.1999.

(4) Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and amending and repealing certain regulations, OJ L 160, 26.6.1999.

(5) OJ L 73, 14.3.1997.

(6) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.

(7) OJ L 103, 25.4.1979.