WRITTEN QUESTION E-1313/03

by Torben Lund (PSE) to the Commission

(7 April 2003)

Subject: Polish special law on road-building, bypassing EIA requirements

I am aware that a special act will shortly be adopted in Poland on 2 April, to simplify procedures for planning and approval of major road schemes in Poland. This act proposes to apply such procedures until the end of 2007.

Among the implications of simplifying the procedures are reduced provisions for environmental impact assessment and the repealing of several articles of the Polish law of environmental protection. This means, for example, that the usual two-stage EIA reports are replaced with one single EIA report, and that several key factors regarding examination of viable, environmentally-sustainable alternatives to the proposed routes will be ignored. Further, the decision-making procedures under this new Act will significantly reduce consultation of civil society and there is no duty to disclose the authors of the remaining EIA report.

These developments will no doubt concern the Commission, since Poland has already transposed EIA legislation into national law, and it now appears it could backtrack on those legal provisions. Bearing in mind that once a major road is built and has damaged or destroyed key environmental sites, this damage is often irreversible, will the Commission please give its assessment of the situation, and can it then assure Parliament that Poland will still apply the full EU environmental requirements to decisions on road-building, both in the run-up to accession, and from the date of accession onwards?

Please note that it is necessary to act fast, since the vote will take place on 2 April in the Polish Senate!

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(16 May 2003)

On accession to the Union, Poland will be bound by Union law, including on environmental impact of projects and in particular their impact on any natural site of special value. Moreover the Commission encourages Acceding Countries to apply and implement the provisions of the environmental acquis already during the pre-accession period, in particular as regards all new investments such as motorways. The relevant Directives are those on Habitats (92/43/EEC(1)), Birds (79/409/EEC(2)) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) (97/11/EC(3)) and the Directive on the Assessment of the Effects of Certain Plans and Programmes on the Environment (2001/42/EC(4)), which has to be applied from July 2004. Community funding for any such investment will only be made available if the requirements of Community legislation on environment and interoperability are respected.

Regarding the special act referred to, the Commission raised this matter at the Union-Poland Sub-Committee No 6 on Transport, Environment, Energy and Trans-European Networks (TENs) held on 27 March 2003 in Warsaw. The Polish authorities assured the Commission that the concerns raised regarding the special act were not accurate. According to Poland, the only relevant legislation being prepared is two regulations that will complete the transposition into Polish law of the EIA Directive. They are a Regulation of the Minister of Agriculture on the requirements to be met by impact assessments regarding the impact of motorways on farmland, and a Regulation of the Minister of Environment on detailed requirements to be met regarding the impact of motorways on the environment and cultural heritage.

(1) Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.

(2) Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds, OJ L 103, 25.4.1979.

(3) Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997 amending Directive 85/337/EEC on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, OJ L 73, 14.3.1997.

(4) Directive 2001/42/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment, OJ L 197, 21.7.2001.