WRITTEN QUESTION E-1860/00 by Carles-Alfred Gasòliba i Böhm (ELDR) to the Council. Road between Cabanes and Oropesa (Castellòn province).
Date: 2000-06-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Community of Valencia, European Commission, application of EU law, environmental impact, powers of the institutions (EU), road building

20.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 89 E/101

(2001/C 89 E/108)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1860/00

by Carles-Alfred Gas(cid:242)liba i B(cid:246)hm (ELDR) to the Council

Subject: Road between Cabanes and Oropesa (Castell(cid:242)n province)

(13 June 2000)

In the Spanish province of Castell(cid:243)n, the Necso-Rover Alcisa company has been awarded the contract to
build a road between Cabanes and Oropesa.

The project has not been subject to an environmental impact assessment for the Natural Park of the
Desierto de las Palmas and its surroundings, which are home to many unique local species, both in the
cave of (cid:145)l(cid:146)ullal de miravet(cid:146) and the area(cid:146)s other caves; this fauna is extremely habitat-sensitive, which means
that any alteration to that habitat could lead to the extinction of the species concerned.

The southern stretch of the proposed road would likewise affect equally or even more important areas of
equal or greater natural beauty and environmental importance than the Desierto de las Palmas natural
park.

Since no environmental impact assessments have been carried out for any of the preliminary proposals for
the sections of the road (north, intermediate and south), what measures will the Council take to ensure
that environmental legislation is complied with?

Reply

(23 October 2000)

The question raised by the Honourable Member does not fall within the competence of the Council. It is
up to the Commission, as guardian of the Treaty, to ensure in accordance with Article 226 of the Treaty
that the relevant Community legislation is correctly transposed into national law and properly enforced

(2001/C 89 E/109)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1866/00

by Laura GonzÆlez `lvarez (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

Subject: The Garraf (Barcelona) Tip

(9 June 2000)

The Garraf Tip, located in the Gav(cid:224) i Begues (Barcelona) municipality, opened in 1972, and is used for
mass urban waste dumping. It currently holds over 20 million tonnes of rubbish.

This tip is built on porous limestone, and when it was built, no measures were taken to make it
impermeable, with the result that it has been leaching into the underground water supply for 28 years
and causing pollution as far as the sea and the bed of the Llobregat Delta, which has been declared an area
of special natural interest. The tip lies within a natural park established by a decree of the Generalitat de
Catalunya of 18 February 1987 on the (cid:145)Plan Especial de Protecci(cid:243)n del Medio F(cid:237)sico y del Paisaje del
Espacio de InterØs Natural del Garraf(cid:146) (special plan for the protection of the physical environment and
natural beauty of the Garraf area of natural interest). Article 28 of the legislation in force until last year
laid down that the dumping of organic material would cease on 31 December 1999.

On 6 April 2000, the biannual revision of the Metropolitan Municipal Waste Management Programme was
adopted, providing for the use of the Garraf Tip until 31 December 2006.

Both the biannual revision and the amendment of the special plan for the protection of the Garraf area
ignore Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the dumping of waste, which is to be transposed into national
legislation by 31 July 2001 (Article 18). Under this directive, the Garraf Tip will not meet the conditions
for remaining open, and should be closed (paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Annex I).

Furthermore, the Garraf Tip is an (cid:145)illegal(cid:146) installation, given that it is an industrial-type plant built on land
classified as (cid:145)woodland(cid:146) by the General Metropolitan Plan currently in force. Moreover, it has no municipal
operating licence from the Gav(cid:224) Town Council.