WRITTEN QUESTION E-3341/01 by Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Green space in Athens.
Date: 2001-12-03
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Central Greece, Olympic games, environmental impact, green area, international standard, town-planning scheme

4.7.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 160 E/99

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(1 February 2002)

According to Council Directives 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain
public and private projects on the environment and 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997 which has modified
Directive 85/337/EEC, Member States are obliged to ensure that, before consent is given, projects likely to
have significant effects on the environment by virtue, inter alia, of their nature, size or location are made
subject to a requirement for development consent and an assessment with regard to their effects. Projects
covered by the Directive are identified in the annexes. The Commission has the task of ensuring the
correct application of Community law and, therefore, in this case, of assessing whether the Community
legislation on environmental
impact assessment (EIA) has been correctly applied in the Member State
concerned.

On the basis of the information given by the Honourable Member, the work to which the question makes
reference, a project for a new building, known as the ‘third satellite’, at Milan’s Malpensa Airport, which
will deal with the terminal’s aircraft docking systems, as well as all passenger and freight loading and
unloading operations is different from the main ‘Malpensa project’ approved in 1987 and could fall either
into class 12 Modifications to development projects included in Annex I of Annex II of Directive
85/337/EEC prior to the amendments or into class 13 Any change or extension of projects listed in Annex
I or Annex II, already authorized, executed or in the process of being executed, which may have significant
adverse effects on the environment of Annex II of Directive 85/337/EEC, as modified by Directive
97/11/EC.

impact assessment

to an environmental

Under Directive 85/337/EEC prior to the amendments, projects falling into Annex II are to be made
subject
their
characteristics so require. However, Member States are considered to be obliged to make a pre-assessment
in order to establish whether Annex II projects need to be made subject to an EIA procedure. Under
Directive 85/337/EEC, as modified, for Annex II projects, Member States are obliged to determine through
a case-by-case examination or thresholds or by the setting of criteria whether the project shall be made
subject to an assessment in accordance with Articles 5 to 10.

(EIA) where Member States consider

that

In order to identify the correct Community law to be applied, it is necessary to check when the request for
development consent of the project for the ‘third satellite’, at Milan’s Malpensa Airport (other than the
main ‘Malpensa project’ approved in 1987) was submitted to the competent authority: projects whose
requests for development consent were submitted to a competent authority before 14 March 1999 are
governed by the provisions of Directive 85/337/EEC (prior to its 1997 amendment).

The Commission has already opened a complaint on the project and a letter has been sent to the Italian
authorities to request information on the issue. The Commission will take the appropriate steps in order to
ensure the observance of Community law.

As regards the application of Council Directive 90/313/EEC of 7 June 1990 on the freedom of access to
information on the environment, the information given by the Honourable Member is not sufficiently
detailed. Due to a lack of grounds of complaint on the application of Directive 90/313/EEC, no breach of
the directive mentioned above can be identified at present. Should the Honourable Member provide
detailed information enabling the Commission to assess the issues in relation to Directive 90/313/EEC, the
Commission would be able to also investigate this matter.

(2002/C 160 E/130)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3341/01

by Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(3 December 2001)

Subject: Green space in Athens

According to recent findings published in the Greek press the area of green space in Athens amounts to
2,5 square metres per capita of the population of the city as opposed to the internationally recommended
15 square metres. In 1977, per capita green space in Athens was 4 square metres and, in 1965, 6 square
metres.

C 160 E/100

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.7.2002

In the Athens basin there are hundreds of hectares of land which are not being used and are intended to
provide a green lung for the inhabitants. However,
involve the
construction of gigantic concrete sports complexes and other buildings in the last remaining open spaces
in Athens and Piraeus. The Faliriko Bay area is in danger of being turned into a concrete sprawl as a result
of the enormous projected sports facilities, and the same applies to the entire area from Pasalimani to
Anavissos, where plans are being made to build cinemas, amusement centres, hotels and shops literally
next to the sea.

the projected Olympic Games will

What view does the Commission take of this disheartening situation in the Athens basin? What are the per
capita areas of green space in other EU capitals? Has the Commission brought the problem to the attention
of the Greek Government and if so, how, in order to make it understand that to place any further areas of
Athens under concrete will threaten the already unsatisfactory quality of life of
its inhabitants and
jeopardise the extremely vulnerable ecological equilibrium of the Greek capital? What, if any, was the
reaction of the Greek authorities?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(31 January 2002)

In the light of the subsidiarity principle, Urban Planning issues lie within the competence of the Member
States (often further delegated to local levels). Thus, the work of the Commission in the field of Urban
planning focuses on assisting local/national authorities with, for example, development of monitoring tools
facilitating the exchange of experiences and good practices between Municipalities and Cities within the
Union. In line with the above, the Commission has not established recommended percentages of green
areas, etc.

However, all major projects (including Cohesion Fund and Structural Funds projects) are subject to an
obligation to undertake an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) under Community law. This also
applies to the projects linked to the Olympic Games in Athens. Such an Assessment would need to assure
that the projects are in line with the protection measures established.

Furthermore, there is no specific Cohesion Fund or Structural Funds co-financing programme for the
creation of green areas in Athens. However, actions relating to this could be proposed in the framework of
the Attica and Environment operational programmes and, with certain conditions and restrictions, under
the Cohesion Fund.

(2002/C 160 E/131)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3345/01

by Luciano Caveri (ELDR) to the Commission

(3 December 2001)

Subject: Interreg III A Alpine area

Operational proposals and plans for action to be taken under the Interreg IIIB A Alpine area Community
initiative are currently being drawn up. During a meeting held in Strasbourg in early October, requests for
the funding also to be used in non-mountainous parts of the Alpine area were put to the Commission.

The inhabitants of mountain areas could well find this difficult to understand, given that they were hoping
that the available resources would be focused on genuine alpine areas rather than towns in valleys or
subalpine areas, which are eligible for other funding.

What are the Commission’s views on this matter?