WRITTEN QUESTION E-0068/03

by Monica Frassoni (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(23 January 2003)

Subject: Failure to carry out an environmental impact assessment prior to implementation of part of the Is Arenas srl project

By decision of 4 October 2002 (No 2309/VIII) of the Director of the SIVEA service of the environmental protection department, the Sardinia Autonomous Region arbitrarily exempted the Is Arenas srl property group, at the end of the preventive verification procedure, from the environmental impact assessment procedure provided for in Directives 85/337/EEC(1) and 97/11/EC(2), transposed in Italy by the presidential decree of 12 April 1996 and subsequent amendments and addenda and by Sardinian regional law No 1/1999 and subsequent amendments and addenda, for the building of a tourist centre on the wooded dunes of Is Arenas, in the commune of Narbolia (OR).

This exemption concerns approximately 57 000 cubic metres of the overall project's 222 900 cubic metres, coming under the programme agreement of 9 June 1997 between the Sardinia Region and Is Arenas srl, entirely located in the Is Arenas SCI (code ITB 002228), in relation to which specific infringement proceedings (Case No 43/81/2001) have already been opened for violation of Directive No 92/43/EC(3) and a reasoned opinion was issued on 9 February 2001. This measure only concerns part of the property project and fails to consider it in its entirety.

Does the Commission intend to open new infringement proceedings, this time for blatant violation of the directives on environmental impact assessments (85/337/EEC and 97/11/EC)?

Does the Commission consider it appropriate, almost two years after notification of the reasoned opinion in the infringement proceedings (Case No 4381/2001), to bring an action before the Court of Justice, in view of the Sardinia Autonomous Region's clear refusal to consider the overall environmental impact of the Is Arenas building project in an SCI area?

Would the Commission agree that the decision to contribute some EUR 5 million of Community funding, through the Oristano Territorial Pact, to the Is Arenas SIL (local intermediary) and related companies should be definitively annulled?

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

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

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

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(7 March 2003)

In accordance with 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, 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 assessment of their effects. Projects covered by the Directive are listed in the Annexes. The projects in Annex I are subject to environmental impact assessment. 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 environmental impact assessment.

The project for building a tourist centre among the wooded dunes of Is Arenas, in the commune of Narbolia, as referred to by the Honourable Member, falls under Annex II of Directive 85/337/EEC, as amended. Therefore, the competent authorities should have determined, through a case-by-case examination or by applying criteria or thresholds set by Italian legislation, whether the project had to be made subject to environmental impact assessment.

By decision No 2309/VIII of 4 October 2002 of the Environmental Protection Department of the Sardinia Autonomous Region (SIVEA), to which the Honourable Member refers, it was decided, in the light of a specific examination, that the proposed tourist centre in the wooded dunes of Is Arenas does not need to undergo environmental impact assessment. It should be noted that the decision concerned the overall project for 222 900 cubic metres under the programme agreement of 9 June 1997 between the Sardinia Region and Is Arenas srl.

With regard to infringement procedure 1998/2346 concerning the proposed Site of Community Importance ITB 032228 Is Arenas, the reasoned opinion does not cover the Is Arenas building project but focuses only on the project for a golf course.

Therefore, in the light of the above and on the basis of the information given by the Honourable Member, no breach of Directive 85/337/EEC, as amended, can be identified at present.

Lastly, with regard to the granting of Community assistance, following the opening of the abovementioned infringement procedure, the Commission has asked the body responsible for implementing the Oristano Territorial Pact, which receives European Regional Development Fund support, to suspend the support to the project in question pending the outcome of the procedure. The Is Arenas tourist project has been completely excluded from the Oristano Pact.