EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/438

(2004/C 78 E/0459)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2851/03

by Monica Frassoni (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(26 September 2003)

Subject: Building of a road without an environmental impact assessment in the proposed site of Community interest — the Triassic chalk outcrops in the Tuscan and Emilian Apennines (Villa Minozzo, RE, Italy)

Approval has been given (1) for a project to build a rural secondary road in the area of the Apennines where Triassic chalk outcrops are found along the course of the river Secchia in the municipality of Villa Minozzo (RE). The project entails a large amount of earth-moving, substantial civil engineering works and objectively radical changes to the terrain.

The competent Community, national, regional and local authorities and the environmental organisations Friends of the Earth and the WWF have requested that an environmental impact assessment (2) be carried out, since the area is of considerable environmental and scenic interest and still in a good state of conservation. A note to this effect from the Greens to the municipal council of Reggio Emilia was forwarded to the Commissioner Mrs Wallström as early as 26 May 2000.

The area in question is under a conservation order (3) and constitutes the proposed site of Community importance ‘Gessi Triassici’ (Triassic chalk outcrops) — code number IT403009 (4) and is part of the national park of the Apennines straddling Tuscany and Emilia (5).

The whole road-building project, including the project to alter the course of the river Secchia, was not the subject of any preliminary study or environmental impact assessment prior to the issue of definitive official authorisation.

Work on the new road started on 2 September 2003.

Can the Commission say whether it is aware of all this?

Whether any measures under way or planned (e.g. roads, water supply or sewerage systems) in connection with these works are being funded by the Community.

Whether it intends to take any appropriate measures in response to this serious instance of failure to comply with Directives 97/11/EC (6) and 85/337/EEC (7)?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(6 November 2003)

According to Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985, amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997, on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, Member States are obliged to ensure that, before 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 a requirement for development consent and an assessment with regard to their effects. Projects covered by the Directive are identified in the annexes. Under Article 4(1), projects listed in Annex I must be made subject to an environmental impact assessment procedure. Under Article 4(2), for projects listed in Annex II Member States are obliged to determine, through a case-by-case examination or by setting criteria or thresholds, whether a project is to be made subject to an environmental impact assessment procedure. Based on the information given by the Honourable Member, the Commission considers that the work to which the question refers could come under Annex II to Directive 85/337/EEC as amended and, therefore, that it should be made subject to the determination under Article 4(2) of Directive 85/337/EEC as amended.

Under Article 6(3) of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna (8)‘any plan or project not directly connected with or necessary to the management of the site but likely to have a significant effect thereon, either individually or in combination with other plans or projects, shall be subject to appropriate assessment of its implications for the site in view of the site's conservation objectives.’ All authorities of the Member States, at national, regional or local level, have the obligation to apply the abovementioned provision to Sites of Community Importance (SCI) under Council Directive 92/43/EEC and Special Protection Areas (SPA) under Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds (9). In addition, as from 10 June 1998, even in the absence of a list of SCIs, Member States are also obliged to apply it to all the sites which, on the basis of the scientific criteria set out in Directive 92/43/EEC for their selection, deserve to be included on the list of SCIs, and especially as regards sites which contain priority habitat or species. Should the project mentioned by the Honourable Member be likely to have significant effects on the pSCI IT4030009 ‘Gessi triassici’, it should be made subject to the appropriate assessment under Article 6(3) of Directive 92/43/EEC.

The Commission has registered a complaint on the issues raised by the Honourable Member. The information given by the Honourable Member has been added to the complaint file, which is under assessment by the Commission.

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 proceedings under Article 226 of the EC Treaty, in order to ensure the observance of the relevant Community law.

Having checked with the Emilia Romagna Region, the Commission can inform the Honourable Member that the route in the ‘Gessi Triassici’ area (Municipality of Villa Minozzo, Province of Reggio Emilia, Italy) has not received aid from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the current Objective 2 SPD. Nor are such interventions covered by that Programme.

(1) Reggio Emilia Provincial Council Decision No 176 of 24 June 2003.

(2) Directive 97/11/EC (Annex II, Point 10, (e) and (f)) modifying and supplementing the earlier Directive 85/337/EEC (Annex II, Point 10, (e) and (f)), the Presidential Decree of 12 April 1996 (Articles 5 and 10; Annex B, Point 7(g) and (o)) and Emilia-Romagna Regional Law No 9/99, as subsequently modified and supplemented).

(3) Article 146(1)(c) and (g) of Legislative Decree No 490/1999.

(4) Ministerial Decree No 65 of 3 April 2000 of the Minister for the Environment and Conservation and Emilia-Romagna Regional Council Decision No 1242 of 15 July 2002.

(5) Presidential Decree of 21 May 2001, pursuant to Law No 394/1991, as subsequently modified and supplemented.

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

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

(8) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.

(9) OJ L 103, 25.4.1979.