WRITTEN QUESTION E-2462/98

by Honório Novo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(30 July 1998)

Subject: Road and rail access to the commercial port of Viana do Castelo

The Directorate-General for Ports, Navigation and Maritime Transport and the Municipality of Viana do Castelo have drawn up plans, currently at the study stage, to construct a road and rail access to the commercial port of Viana do Castelo.

In order to carry out the project, an application will be or has already been made for Community co-financing under the second Community Support Framework.

These studies and projects are to be carried out without any assessment of the environmental impact and are openly opposed by local people and various environmental organisations. Among other highly controversial aspects with an impact on the environment and the landscape, the plans involve the complete filling-in of marshland and wetlands, construction on the bed of the river Lima, construction in national ecological conservation areas and in national agricultural conservation areas and also construction in areas containing biotopes of European interest listed under the Corine programme. Finally, the plans entail construction in areas included in the National List of Sites as part of the Natura 2000 network pursuant to Directive 92/43/EC(1) (site No 3, code 134-000 - mouth of the river Lima).

Moreover, the Portuguese authorities have publicly declared that they are not willing to study alternative solutions put forward by various institutions, associations and public figures.

1. Has an application already been made for co-financing of the construction of road and rail access to the commercial port of Viana do Castelo? If so, will the Commission grant the application even if it is not supported by environmental impact assessments made independently by autonomous bodies not linked to the project promoters?

2. What contribution will the Commission make to ensure that alternative solutions to the current studies and projects are analysed and given genuine consideration?

Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission

(8 October 1998)

To date the only project part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund in the port of Viana do Castelo concerns improved sea access (dredging). The Commission has also part-financed the preliminary surveys for the rail project, the initial draft of the road access project and the environmental impact assessment for the road project.

It should be recalled that, for projects with total costs less than ECU 25 million, the national authorities are responsible for checking whether the projects selected for part-financing by the Community meet all the administrative and legal requirements, including compliance with the relevant environmental rules. The Commission can check whether these conditions have been complied with through the monitoring committees for the part-financed programmes.

With regard to the potential impact of the above projects on the area's natural features (fauna, flora and habitats), the provisions of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora(2) apply, in particular Article 6, including appropriate assessment of the implications for the site and study of alternatives given that the area in question is in fact in a site of Community importance proposed by Portugal in 1997 as part of the Natura 2000 network, in accordance with Article 4 of the above Directive.

A complaint about these projects was recently submitted to the Commission. The Commission is in the process of examining this complaint to ensure compliance with the conservation aims set out in the above Directive.

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

(2) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.