WRITTEN QUESTION E-0977/98

by Carlo Ripa di Meana (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(30 March 1998)

Subject: Lotto Zero - infringement of the directive on assessment of the environmental impact of certain public and private projects

The decree of 5 December 1997 authorized work to start (under Law 135/97) on the "Lotto Zero" project consisting of a 10.5 metre wide expressway section, which is to include four bridges and four tunnels.

The area chosen for the project is only a few metres from the old town centre of Teramo and dangerously close to a number of residential areas. Under the Abruzzo regional planning scheme, the area is given top priority (A1 - total preservation). Article 26 of the scheme expressly prohibits the building of new roads. The road would be located at the entrance to the Gran Sasso-Laga National Park and in the Tordino river bed which contains a wealth of archaeological remains.

A previous version of the Lotto Zero project failed to meet the requirements of the Environment Ministry's environmental impact assessment department. The reply, signed by the department's director-general on 4 August 1993, called for suitable alternative projects to be drawn up (e.g. adjustment of existing roads). The new project fails to satisfy these requests, puts forward ideas similar to those submitted in 1993 and, in any case, has not been submitted to the environmental impact assessment department for approval.

The EU is providing some Lit 3 billion for a project, called the Tordino River Park, which is to carry out an environmental assessment of the Tordino river in the very area through which the Lotto Zero expressway, including four bridges and four tunnels, would run.

Does the Commission agree that a specific environmental impact assessment must be carried out on the Lotto Zero project, in accordance with Directive 85/337/EU(1)?

Does the Commission not consider that a project which will cause such disruption to the bed of the Tordino river and the neighbouring countryside would be contrary to the environmental enhancement and protection aims pursued by the EU in funding the Tordino River Park project?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission

(13 May 1998)

On the basis of the information given by the Honourable Member, the Commission is not in a position to assess if the project to which the question makes reference is to be considered as a project included in the list of Annex I or II of Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment. In the case of an Annex I project, it would be necessary for the Member State to ensure that an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is undertaken. In the case of an Annex II project an EIA should be carried out where, in the opinion of the Member State, the characteristics of the project so require.

Given the importance of the matter, in the light of the Community co-financing involved and also of the proposal of the area as a site of Community importance (SIC), the Commission will take the appropriate steps in order to gather detailed information about it and to ensure the observance of Community law.

To facilitate its work, the Commission would welcome more detailed information from the Honourable Member on the projects he mentioned in order to give the Commission the opportunity of making a preliminary assessment.

As regards the second question, Article 6 of Council Directive 92/43/EEC on conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora(2) could apply. In accordance with this provision, Member States are obliged to take the appropriate steps to avoid, in the special areas of conservation, the deterioration of natural habitats, and any plan or project not directly connected with or necessary to the management of the site but likely to have a significant effect thereon shall be subject to appropriate assessment of its implications for the site in view of the site's conservation objectives. In order to be able to make the above mentioned assessment, the Commission will request the necessary information from the Italian authorities.

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

(2) OJ L 206, 27.7.1992.