WRITTEN QUESTION E-1707/01

by Laura González Álvarez (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(14 June 2001)

Subject: Road link between Vic and Olot (Catalonia, Spain)

The proposed road link between Vic and Olot would effectively be a motorway and represents a serious threat to ecosystems of high ecological value, in a mountain area with a damp climate

and with woodlands and local plant species whose distribution in many cases meets its southern border there. The scheme would entail major and irreversible environmental damage to an area characterised by cultivated fields set in valleys with highly fertile soil and a landscape of remarkable beauty.

The proposed route also involves construction of the Bracons tunnel and would cross areas of natural beauty included in the Natura 2000 network.

Does the Commission consider that the pros and cons of this infrastructural project have been weighed up to their last consequences and that due account has been taken of the principle of prevention which should prevail in the case of any public works scheme entailing serious damage to the natural and human environment in a region?

Can the Commission state whether this scheme is to receive financing from the Cohesion Fund?

Does the Commission not consider that Directives 85/337/EEC(1) and 92/43/EEC(2), on environmental impact and protected habitats respectively, should apply in this case?

What action can the Commission take to ensure compliance with the Community environmental legislation in this case?

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

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

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(23 July 2001)

The Commission is aware of the matters raised by the Honourable Member.

Following Written Question E-374/99 by Mr Gutiérrez Diaz(1), in 1999 the Commission in fact proceeded to launch an own-initiative investigation to check whether the project in question infringed Community legislation or not.

Following the request from the Commission for information in order to conduct this investigation, the Spanish authorities forwarded the environmental impact statement assessment concerning this project, a whole series of measures to reduce the impact on local populations, compensatory measures relating to agricultural land and compensatory measures for flora and fauna, such as the financing of ecological studies in the area and the drawing up of a special protection plan for rivers and areas affected by the access to the Braçons tunnel.

Given these circumstances and on the basis of the information forwarded, the Commission was unable to detect any infringement of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora(2), nor of Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment(3). It therefore closed its investigation on 28 March 2001.

With regard to any possible co-financing of the link between Vic and Olot under the Cohesion Fund, the Commission would ask the Honourable Member to refer to the answer given to Written Question E-4162/00 by Mr Knörr Borras(4).

(1) OJ C 341, 29.11.1999.

(2) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.

(3) OJ L 175, 5.7.1985 as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997 (OJ L 73, 14.3.1997).

(4) OJ C 235 E, 21.8.2001, p. 83.