WRITTEN QUESTION E-2975/01

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(26 October 2001)

Subject: Further damage to the Westerschelde Estuary as a result of the construction of a container terminal in the De Kaloot area near Flushing (Vlissingen)

1. Is the Commission aware that, following dredging operations to deepen the river estuary, further damage will be caused to the north bank of the Westerschelde if the planning application, submitted under the Netherlands Land Reclamation Act and in the light of the redrafting of the Regional Plans of Zeeland Province and of the Flushing and Borssele Municipal Councils, for authorisation to build the Westerschelde Container Terminal east of the access to the Sloehavens is approved, with the current shallow tidal flats (De Kaloot), which has a beach and verdant sea dike with drift dunes, being replaced by a deep-water wharf with tall cranes?

2. Is the Commission aware that De Kaloot is a unique site for finding shell fossils and sharks' teeth, that sea thistles grow there and that seals use it as a resting-place?

3. Has the Commission read the report on this matter drawn up by the Environmental Biology Department of the Institute for Evolutionary and Ecological Science?

4. Can the Commission confirm that, if the project goes ahead, virtually the entire Rammekensschoor on the western side of the Sloehavens, currently protected as a nature reserve, will disappear and that the requisite environmental compensation will be sought inside the sea dike, in the exceptionally pretty Welzingepolder to the east of Oost-Souburg, which has been able hitherto to repel the advances of industrialisation and urbanisation?

5. Can the Commission take account of the increase in environmental damage and the lack of genuine compensation described above in the proceedings it is currently preparing for submission to the Court of Justice with regard to the Netherlands environmental compensation policy along the Westerschelde instead of bringing separate proceedings at a later date, since that would entail the risk of a fait accompli being created as a consequence of the destruction of the current landscape?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(29 November 2001)

The Commission has been informed from press reports that there is a plan to build a new container terminal on the Western Scheldt at Vlissingen. Given the fact that the Western Scheldt has been designated as a Natura 2000 area, the Commission will ensure that the Dutch Government complies with its obligation under Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora(1).

The Commission is aware of the natural value of the Kaloot site close to Borssele, because under the LIFE-Nature project B4-3200/94/729 Marsh amelioration along the River Scheldt (MARS), important measures to increase the conservation value of this site have been co-financed.

The Commission is not aware of the report from the University of Leiden to which the Honourable Member refers. The Commission has received, however, several studies about actual and future ecosystem management in the Western Scheldt which have been jointly published by the Belgian and Dutch authorities.

Furthermore, the Commission recently received a complaint which alleges that the environmental impact assessment procedure concerning the Container Terminal Project at Vlissingen has failed to make a correct assessment of potential damage to the natural values of the Western Scheldt estuarine environment, notably with regard to some of the sites mentioned by the Honourable Member.

The Commission will send a request for information on the application to this project of Article 6(3) and Article 6(4) of the Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC to the Dutch Government

(1) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.