EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 84/660

(2004/C 84 E/0744)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0707/04

by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission

(10 March 2004)

Subject: Creation of a waste disposal site in the Monte Catillo nature reserve at Tivoli

The Italian press recently reported that the town council of Tivoli (RM) has decided to set up an ‘ecological platform’ with the relevant infrastructure on council land in the village of La Prece located in the territory of the Monte Catillo nature reserve, the environment and landscape of which are under a number of protection orders.

The council land was handed over by the municipality to ASA Spa, a company owned by the local authority and involved in waste collection. The ‘ecological platform’ is supposed to include a dump for storage, differentiated waste collection and the disposal of inorganic waste, all located in the nature reserve.

In view of this, can the Commission say:

1. whether a prior environmental impact assessment has been carried out to ascertain whether conditions are suitable for siting the dump in the village mentioned;

2. whether the local council's decision to hand the land over to ASA Spa complies with the directives on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment and on making information available to the public (85/337/EEC (1) and 97/11/EC (2)) and the directive on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment (2001/42/EC (3));

3. whether the decision to set up the ‘ecological platform’ complies with those directives?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(16 April 2004)

The project for a waste disposal site in the Monte Catillo nature reserve at Tivoli, mentioned by the Honourable Member, appears to be covered by Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997. It could fall into one of the classes of projects listed under Annex II of the Directive. Article 4, paragraph 2, of Directive 85/337/EEC, modified, provides that for projects listed in Annex II, Member States are obliged to determine, through a case-by-case examination or setting thresholds or criteria, whether it needs to be made subject to an environmental impact assessment procedure in accordance with Articles 5 to 10.

However, the Commission cannot be aware of all situations which are likely to be considered as a bad application of environmental Community law by the competent authorities of the Member States. Such situations are normally drawn to the attention of the Commission by letters of complaint, Parliamentary Written Questions and Petitions to the Petitions Committee of the Parliament and they need to be precisely described so as to enable the Commission to assess them in relation to applicable Community environmental law.

In this specific case, on the basis of the information given by the Honourable Member, the Commission is not in a position to take a view on the subject matter. In light of the above, the Honourable Member is kindly requested to give more information on the matter in order to enable the Commission to assess the case according to the relevant Community law.

As regards 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, the deadline for Member States to transpose this Directive is 21st July 2004. Therefore, at present, Member States are not yet obliged to apply the provisions of this Directive in their legal system.

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

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

(3) OJ L 197, 21.7.2001, p. 30.