WRITTEN QUESTION E-0189/97 by Mihail Papayannakis (GUE/NGL) to the Commission (5 February 1997)

Subject: Cession for building purposes of land in a protected region along the River Pineios

Only a few days before the general elections in Greece (22.9.1996) the Minister for the Environment, Regional Planning, and Public Works signed a decision granting building permission for an area of 12 ha. along the banks of the River Pineios in the Aghiou Thoma region of Larisa.

This decision was issued despite the fact that the procedure for commissioning a report on flood prevention in the region initiated by the Directorate for Land Reclamation Projects in the General Secretariat for Public Works was still underway, the special regional development/ecological/management study for the River Pineios, funded to the tune of Drs 50 million by Envireg, had not been completed and the Ministry for the Environment, Regional Planning, and Public Works' Directorate for Operational Programmes had already given preliminary approval in document 169 of 20 July 1995 for funding biotope protection projects in the delta of the River Pineios, with a budget of Drs 170 million under action 3.3 of the Operational Programme for the Environment.

Since it is completely inconsistent that land in the protected region of the River Pineios should have been ceded for building purposes before even the Community-funded studies commissioned by the Ministry for the Environment, Regional Planning and Public Works on the management and protection of this region had been completed, will the Commission confirm that the Ministry for the Environment, Regional Planning and Public Works ceded the 12 ha. on the banks of the River Pineios for building purposes before the elections, and say how such a move can be squared with the promotion of flood prevention schemes in the River Pineios region and the prevention of flooding, especially in view of the recent catastrophic flooding of 12 January 1997, and how it intends to resolve these contradictions?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (8 April 1997)

Since land-parcelling plans are the purview of the Member States, the Greek authorities did not inform the Commission of the Haghios Thomas project in the area close to the River Pinios at Larissa, Thessaly. However, according to the information in the Commission's possession, the new housing development is close to the limits of the urban fabric of Larissa and not close to the Pinios delta. The latter is described in the scientific list as a site of Community importance both under Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC ((OJ L 206, 22.7.1992. )) (LIFE-Nature 94 project - Habitats inventory) and under the Commission Directive of 6 March 1991 amending Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds (91/244/EEC) ((OJ L 115, 8.5.1991. )) (1989 and 1994 reference scientific inventory) but it does not count among the 164 sites in the national list sent to the Commission by the Ministry for the Environment in August 1996.

According to the information received by the Commission the expansion of the Haghios Thomas town planning project derives from an adminstrative and technical procedure receiving support form the Larissa town council which must pass through several assessment stages and procedures since the Ministry for the Environment has granted a preliminary town-planning approval. Before final authorization under the supervision of the Hellenic National Court it is necessary to draw up several technical studies one of which will be a water-resources study for the protection of the Pinios delta, which will be examined during the procedure.

The project referred to, which is apparently aimed at protecting a biotope in the Pénéos delta, was covered by a preliminary discussion in order possibly to be financed jointly under the 1994-99 operational programme on the environment. However, no decision concerning its joint financing has been taken, and this project is not considered to form part of said operational programme.