WRITTEN QUESTION E-4096/00

by Francesco Turchi (UEN) to the Commission

(10 January 2001)

Subject: Environmental impact assessment of Linate airport (Milan, Italy)

Aware that:

- in recent years, the volume of air traffic at Linate airport has increased considerably (61 932 flights per day in 1970, 82 620 in 1980, 126 566 in1990 and 184 742 in 1997),

- the airport is five kilometres away from the cathedral and only a few hundred metres from the second ring road, which is now considered part of the city itself,

- despite the significant urban development of the Milan municipality and the communes to the east and south of the city, there has been an uncontrolled increase in the annual number of passengers (currently 650 000) at Linate airport,

- given the way in which these communes have developed, the airport cannot be allowed to expand any further,

- in accordance with Ministerial Decree 463 (Burlando decree) of 25 October 1998, some of the air traffic has been diverted from Linate to Malpensa and it is planned that eventually only the Rome shuttle (approximately. 80 flights per day) will remain at Linate,

- the Bersani decree of 3 March 2000 supplemented and altered the air traffic arrangements, increasing the number of daily flights from 80 to the present 220,

- the European Community had commissioned Cranfield College of Aeronautics to carry out a survey, which follows a request by the 11 foreign companies operating at Malpensa that the Community call for an expansion of air traffic at Linate, bringing the number of daily flights to 350-400,

- contrary to what is required by law, no environmental impact assessment has been carried out for any of the changes made so far,

- under the terms of Prime Ministerial Decree No 377 of 10 August 1988, which entered into force on 1 September 1988, Linate airport has been operating illegally since the 1992-1994 expansion,

- Article 8 of Law No 447, of 26 October 1995, stipulates that interventions resulting in operations which are substantially different from the preceding arrangements include any plans to develop or expand airport facilities and that such facilities must therefore undergo an environmental impact assessment.

Does the Commission not consider that this situation constitutes an infringement of the rights of people living in the area and a threat to the local environment? Does it agree that, before any decision is taken on the future of Linate airport, an environmental impact assessment should be carried out on the present situation and the likely impact of further alterations?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(15 March 2001)

It is primarily the province of the national authorities to implement texts requiring environmental action. The Commission notes that the traffic at Linate airport has fallen over the last two years owing to the restrictions placed upon it by the Italian authorities, who wish to promote Malpensa airport.

As regards Community environmental law and, in particular, the possible application 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(1), as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997(2), the question put by the Honourable Member does not provide sufficient information to establish its relevance to the facts outlined.

Article 2 of Directive 85/337/EEC, as amended, states that Member States are obliged to ensure that, before consent is given, projects likely to have significant effects on the environment are made subject to an environmental impact assessment (EIA). The Directive concerns projects and its aim is to prevent pollution or nuisances at source by having the development consent take into consideration the environmental effects of the projects, rather than subsequently trying to counteract these effects. The kinds of projects which are covered by the Directive are defined in Article 4, which refers to a list of classes of projects included in Annexes I and II to the Directive.

On the basis of the information given by the Honourable Member, the Commission is neither in a position to assess the nature of the enlargement works mentioned nor to consider whether they were relevant to any class of the projects listed in Annex I or II to the Directive.

In addition, on the basis of the information given the above mentioned works appear to have been carried out between 1992 and 1994. Of course, if a project, relevant to Annex I or II to the Directive, is granted a development consent without complying with the EIA Directive an infringement is committed. However, as mentioned above, it should be stressed that the purpose of Directive 85/337/EEC, as amended, is to address situations in which works have not yet been carried out in order to prevent pollution or nuisances at source. Therefore, the Directive contains no provisions to address situations in which the works have been carried out and it does not provide any means of bringing such situations back into compliance with its objectives.

As regards a possible future increase in air traffic, this is not, as such, a project which falls under Directive 85/337/EEC and, consequently, it does not need to be made the subject of an environmental impact assessment.

(1) OJ L 175, 5.7.1985.

(2) OJ L 73, 14.3.1997.