WRITTEN QUESTION E-1498/02

by Alexander de Roo (Verts/ALE), Miquel Mayol i Raynal (Verts/ALE)and José Mendiluce Pereiro (PSE) to the Commission

(29 May 2002)

Subject: Exclusion of the Árreu Valley from the sites of Community importance proposal and the extension of the Baqueira-Beret ski resort (Cataluña, Spain)

A project to extend the Baqueira-Beret ski resort in the Lérida Pyrenees (Cataluña), was submitted in 1991; promoted by the Baqueira-Beret SAR private company, it occupied the Árreu Valley, which was then included in the proposed Alt Pallars SCI (5130003) for the alpine bio-geographical region. WWF/Spain and other organisation protested, and a Community Complaint (Ref. 2001/4183, SG (2001) A/2385) was lodged, pointing out that the building work invaded an area included in the Natura 2000 network SCI proposal, and affected habitats and species which were priorities and were included in Annex IV of the Habitat Directive (92/43/EEC(1)). The project was finally withdrawn with an unfavourable environmental impact statement. In August 2001, Baqueira-Beret SA submitted a fresh project for extending the ski resort, occupying an important part of the Árreu Valley and the Aigüestortes SCI (ES5130002). WWF/Spain again protested against the scheme, demonstrating its serious environmental impact and the inadequacy of the corrective, compensatory measures. In October, after the alpine bio-geographical seminar, WWF/Spain learned that the Árreu Valley and other areas affected by the Baqueira-Beret extension scheme had been excluded from the Alpine SCI proposal by the Catalan Government. WWF submitted the scientific information available to date on the Árreu Valley to the ETCNC(2) (Paris), and the Biodiversity Unit, demonstrating the need for the Árreu Valley to form part of the Natura 2000 Network. The extension scheme submitted also affects France, since it invades the habitat of a group of bears (ursus arctos) shared by both countries. Given the scheme's favourable environmental impact statement, and the adoption of the administrative procedures allowing Baqueira-Beret SAR to extend the ski resort into the Árreu Valley, WWF/Spain is lodging a fresh complaint with the Commission: 2002/4204, SG(2002) A/1912. If the Árreu Valley has been excluded from the SCI proposal in order to favour private building projects, the whole process of setting up the Natura 2000 Network in Spain will be negatively affected, and a bad precedent will be set, undermining the consistency demanded by the Habitats Directive.

Is the Commission aware of the Baqueira-Beret extension scheme, and the facts set out in Complaint 2002/4204, SG(2002) A/1912?

Does the Commission know that this project affects both alpine SCIs in Spain proposed in the Directive on Habitats, and IBA proposed by BirdLife in the directive on birds?

Does the Commission know the changes made by the Spanish Autonomous Communities in their proposals for sites for the Natura 2000 Network, whereby areas previously protected were excluded in favour of building projects not connected with or necessary to the management of the site, (Article 6(3) of Directive 92/43/EEC), without the projects being subjected to an adequate assessment of their impact on the site?

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

(2) European Topic Centre on Nature Conservation.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(17 July 2002)

The Commission has already received a first complaint, reference 1999/5118, on an extension scheme at the Baqueira Beret ski resort in the Lleida Pyrenees in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia (Spain), followed by several further complaints on the

same subject. The Commission and the Spanish authorities exchanged information in the course of preliminary enquiries into the case. Due to the competent environmental authority's negative impact assessment in June 2001, the scheme was not authorised.

The Commission was already aware, from the information it received in connection with complaints 2001/4183 and 2002/4204 referred to by the Honourable Members, that a new project to extend the Baqueira-Beret ski resort had been submitted. The Spanish authorities gave this second project a positive environmental impact assessment in January 2002.

In its initial inquiries on these complaints, the Commission asked the Spanish authorities to comment on the claims made and on how EC environment law which might apply has been applied, and is now waiting for a reply.

As regards the list of sites of Community importance (SCI) for inclusion in the Natura 2000 network under the terms of Article 4 of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, the list for the alpine biogeographical region is now in preparation.

The list of SCI sites selected has to be adopted by the Commission on the basis of a draft which it prepares in consultation with the Member States, which supply the relevant data. The information is analysed by the European Environment Agency's Nature Conservation Topic Centre and conclusions are drawn at the relevant biogeographical seminars, in which non-governmental organisations are invited to participate.