EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/505

(2004/C 78 E/0525)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3274/03

by Inger Schörling (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(5 November 2003)

Subject: Impact of the laying of artificial beaches in Caleta de la Guirra in the municipality of Antigua (Fuerteventura, Spain)

Artificial beaches are being laid in Caleta de Guirra (Municipality of Antigua on Fuerteventura) on a publicly-owned stretch of coastline. This has destroyed a seaboard of great natural value with significant marine and fisheries resources (including the species of small crab used as bait for parrot fish). This symbolic area is also used by native and visiting species of birds such as stonechats, Egyptian vultures, trumpeter finches, cream-coloured coursers, plovers, turnstones, dunlins, egrets, herons and flamingos as a stopping-off point, to rest and to nest. In the course of the work a site of great palaeontological importance has been discovered. Reports prepared by respected palaeontologists from Canary Islands universities show this to be the richest and most extensive site found on the island of Fuerteventura to date. It contains a vast quantity and great variety of marine fossils dating back over 100 000 years. Since late 2002, heavy machinery has been destroying the seaboard and ravaging the site day after day, excavating and extracting tonnes of fossil material and carrying it off to an unknown location. The Canary Islands Green Party has filed a complaint with the local and central government authorities of the Canary Islands and applied for suspension of the work pursuant to Law 4/1999 of 15 March 1999 on the Historical Heritage of the Canary Islands. However, the work is continuing, and fresh discoveries are still being made. A complaint and application for suspension of the work have also been filed with the Office of the Public Prosecutor for the Environment and Court of Instruction No 2 in Puerto de Rosario. The Secretary-General for the Environment (see Resolution 7039 in Official State Gazette No 88 of 12 April 2002) exempted the project in La Guirra from an environmental impact statement, ignoring the adverse opinions issued with regard to it during the consultation process. An environmental impact assessment should have been an imperative owing to the presence of a palaeontological site and because the area's natural resources have been undervalued (impact on the halophile coastal vegetation, on Canary tamarisk, and on marine phanerogams in the subtidal zone; destruction of the area in which bait is collected for parrot fish, a species typical to the area and the bait for which is slowly disappearing).

Will the Commission take action to ensure that the impact assessment procedure laid down in Directive 97/11/EC (1) is applied?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(18 December 2003)

The Commission has checked that the area where the project is to be implemented has not been designated by the Spanish authorities as a Special Area of Conservation included in the Natura 2000 Network within the terms of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (2).

The project, as described by the Spanish authorities, consists of coastal works along 600 meter (m) of the shoreline to allow for bathing activities. The main actions considered in the project are the construction of a discontinuous dyke and the deposit of sand in order to build the beach. This kind of project is listed in Annex II — point 1, k) — of Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 (3), as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997, on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment.

Pursuant to Article 4.2 of the above Directive, Member States shall determine, on a case-by-case basis, according to thresholds or criteria, or a combination of both, whether a project listed in Annex II shall be made subject to an assessment in accordance with Articles 5 to 10 of the Directive. For this purpose, Member States shall take into account the selection criteria set out in Annex III of the Directive, which refers to the characteristics of the project, its location and the characteristics of the potential impact. Member States shall ensure that the determination made by the competent authorities is made available to the public.

As stated in the Resolution of 14 March 2002, the Spanish authorities have determined whether this project should be made subject to an impact assessment procedure. This determination has concluded that the project is not likely to have significant effects on the environment and, therefore, no impact assessment should be required.

According to available information, the Commission considers that the Spanish authorities have respected the provisions of the above-mentioned Council Directives concerning the mentioned project.

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

(2) OJ L 206, 22.7.1993.

(3) OJ L 175, 5.7.1985.