WRITTEN QUESTION E-2498/02

by Richard Corbett (PSE) to the Commission

(9 September 2002)

Subject: Baltic Corridor

Does the Commission have any plans to help the Polish Government to assess alternative routing options for the Via Baltica so as to avoid the potentially harmful impact of the currently preferred route on the Biebzia National Park and other key sites?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(18 October 2002)

There is no doubt that the Biebrza National Park in Poland is of great value and deserves protection.

As already indicated in the reply to Written Question E-2476/02 by Mrs Lynne(1), Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora(2) and Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds(3) will apply to Poland as soon as it becomes a Member State of the Union. This means that, upon accession, the protection foreseen in Article 6(2), (3) and (4) of Directive 92/43/EEC will apply for all sites included in the list of sites eligible as sites of Community importance as well as for all sites designated as a Special Protection Area under Directive 79/409/EEC.

The Honourable Member will be aware that from a legal point of view candidate states are not obliged to fully comply with the acquis until the date of accession. However, since the beginning of the accession negotiations, the Commission has insisted that all new infrastructure investments in the candidate countries should comply with Community environmental law. On the basis of this position, Poland should, for all its transport infrastructure projects, including those that make up the Via Baltica, comply with the Directives on nature protection (92/43/EEC, 79/409/EEC).

Under these Directives, the question of possible alternative routings arises only in specific circumstances, namely, if, despite a negative assessment of the implications for a protected site, imperative reasons of overriding public interest justify the carrying out of the project. The Commission is not aware at which stage of the process the planning of the motorway currently stands and will contact the Polish authorities on this issue for their assurance that all necessary environmental requirements have been complied with.

In this context the Commission draws the attention of the Honourable Member to its responses to Written Questions P-1648/02 by Mr Huhne and E-1694/02 by Mr Meijer(4), E-1968/02 by Mr Davies(5) and E-2284/02 by Mr Xarchakos and Mr Dimitrakopoulos(6), confirming that neither PHARE nor ISPA funds have been provided for the construction of the Via Baltica across the Biebrza marshes in north-east Poland. Furthermore, such a project features in neither the ISPA nor the PHARE project pipeline and, therefore, no request for Union support for this particular project has been made by the Polish authorities. Should the Commission receive such a request, the project will be examined in the light of the relevant Community environmental rules.

(1) See page 1.

(2) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.

(3) OJ L 103, 25.4.1979.

(4) OJ C 301 E, 5.12.2002, p. 201.

(5) OJ C 309 E, 12.12.2002, p. 181.

(6) OJ C 161 E, 10.7.2003, p. 20.