WRITTEN QUESTION E-2176/99

by Monica Frassoni (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(29 November 1999)

Subject: Construction of an underground railway in Brescia, Italy

The Commune of Brescia intends to build an underground railway. By Municipal Decision No 137 of 26 July 1999 it approved a preliminary plan for the construction of the underground railway although it is not yet clear what funds are available for the work. In fact, although the cost of the underground, which can be estimated on the basis of similar European projects/constructions, is about 1215 billion lire, only the first instalment of 165 billion lire is available(1). The choice of an underground railway is incompatible with the Master Development and Town Planning Scheme and the Urban Traffic Scheme recently adopted by the Commune which provide for a light tramcar network which would be much more suitable and justifiable in the case of a medium-sized town (200 000 inhabitants) such as Brescia. The adoption of an above-ground public transport system running on right of way has been, inter alia, confirmed by further studies commissioned by the Commune from an English company following the approval of the Master Development and Town Planning scheme. These further studies led to plans for two bus services/routes running on right of way (Linee di Alta Mobilità high-mobility routes) and the contract/specifications for implementing these plans has recently been allocated/drawn up. That network, which should come into operation in two years' time, will serve the same customers as would the underground railway. The Brescia Greens lodged an appeal on 15.10.1999 against the municipal decision of the Commune approving the plan for an underground railway and a similar appeal was sent to the Interministerial Economic Planning Committee on 27.9.1999.

Annex II to the directives on environmental impact assessment, 85/337/EEC(2) and 97/11/EC(3), lists underground railways among the projects where a State must examine whether the assessment procedure should be applied. The Court of Justice recently ruled that in the case of the works listed in Annex II of those directives, a Member State is not entitled to exempt or withdraw a project from the environmental impact assessment procedure where its environmental impact is substantial, in particular because of its nature, size or location(4). Given its size and location, this plan for an underground railway must have a substantial impact. The purpose of the assessment must be, inter alia, also to take into consideration alternative solutions and to indicate the main reasons for making that choice rather than any other(5).

Does the Commission believe, especially in the light of the above-mentioned judgment of the Court of Justice, that a plan for an underground railway such as that proposed by the Commune of Brescia should be subject to an environmental impact assessment to show why other planning solutions were not preferred?

(1) See the decision of the Interministerial Economic Planning Committee of 20.11.1995.

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

(3) OJ L 73, 14.3.1997, p. 5.

(4) Judgment of 16.9.1999 in Case C-435/97.

(5) See Article 5 of Directive 97/11/EC.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(20 January 2000)

In the opinion of the Commission, based on the information given by the Honourable Member, the work to which the question makes reference, an underground railway project in Brescia, is within the scope of Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997 amending Directive 85/337/EC on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, and, in particular, it appears to be a project of the classes listed in Annex II of the two Directives (class 10 g of Directive 85/337/EEC and class 10 h of Directive 97/11/EC). Under Directive 85/337/EEC such projects should be made subject to an environmental impact assessment (EIA) where Member States consider that their characteristics so require (Article 4, paragraph 2): however, Member States are considered obliged to make at least a pre-assessment in order to establish whether these projects need to be made subject to an EIA procedure. Under Directive 97/11/EC, for projects listed in Annex II, Member States are obliged to determine through a case-by-case examination, or thresholds or criteria set by the Member State, whether the project shall be made subject to an assessment in accordance with Articles 5 to 10, and may decide to apply both procedures (Article 4, paragraph 2).

Therefore, depending on the Directive applicable to the project for an underground railway in Brescia, Italy is obliged to comply with the respective above mentioned obligations.

In the light of the above, a letter requesting information has been sent to the Italian authorities. The Commission will take the appropriate steps in order to ensure the observance of Community law.