WRITTEN QUESTION E-1486/02 by María Sornosa Martínez (PSE) to the Commission. Sand extraction in the Serra Gelada y Litoral de al Marína Baixa (Valencian autonomous community) SCI.
Date: 2002-05-29
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Community of Valencia, EU environmental policy, application of EU law, coastal protection, environmental impact, environmental law, protected area, protection of plant life, water treatment

C 301 E/158

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

5.12.2002

12 000 million pesetas; given the enormous town-planning value of the 66 000 square metres the factory
occupies, which will give rise to financial transactions that will profit the most- advantaged sections of the
population; and given that the Chairman of the SEPI, when he appeared before parliament to report on the
closure of the Cetarsa factory in Granada, claimed that the reasons were due to the EU, arguing on the
basis of non-existent laws and studies which the Commission denies possessing: Does the Commission not
believe that this closure is counterproductive, in view of the irreparable socio-economic harm it will do,
neutralising and prejudicing the EU’s structural policies?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(25 June 2002)

The Commission shares the Honourable Member’s concern over the possible closure of the Cetarsa plant in
Granada and the consequent loss of jobs. However, it can intervene in the industrial policy of a Member
State only where Community rules have been infringed; decisions on the closure of a firm, whether public
or private, are a matter for its managers.

Alongside the short-term impact of the closure of a firm, the Commission would draw attention to the
long-term impact of its structural policy. In the case of Andalusia, Community assistance under the
integrated operational programme for 2000-2006 includes the creation or preservation of an average of
some 96 000 jobs per year.

(2002/C 301 E/170)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1486/02

by María Sornosa Martínez (PSE) to the Commission

(29 May 2002)

Subject: Sand extraction in the ‘Serra Gelada y Litoral de al Marína Baixa’

(Valencian autonomous

community) SCI

Various beach regeneration schemes are under way within the Valencian Autonomous Community using
sand extracted from the Serra Gelada y Litoral de al Marína Baixa’ (Valencian Autonomous Community)
SCI. These extraction operations could seriously affect the posidonia beds in the area which were the very
reason that it was designated a Site of Community Interest in the first place.

Given that:

(cid:1) the posidonia beds appear in Annex I of Directive 92/43/EEC (1) (Habitats);

(cid:1) Serra Gelada posidonia beds have been suffering from the impact of inadequately treated waste water
discharges and, have been seriously affected by the failure to carry out the extension of the Benidorm
purification plant as a matter of urgency;

(cid:1) there is no environmental impact assessment for the sand extraction operations, since the Spanish
authorities, on the basis of ‘transposition law’ 6/2001, which leaves such assessment optional for
extractions of over 500 000 m3, did not require an environmental impact assessment to be carried out
(although such an assessment is in fact obligatory under Valencian law 2/1999);

(cid:1) above all, the fact that since the area was declared an SCI, the legal provisions which apply are

Directive 97/11/EC (2) (former 85/337/EEC (3)) on environmental impact,

Does the Commission not believe that the sand extraction operations in Serra Gelada clearly contravene
Directive 97/11/EEC and 92/43/EEC and that since this an SCI area, the Spanish authorities are under an
obligation to carry out the requisite environmental impact association, which they have so far refused to
do, in order to know exactly what the impact on the posidonia beds of the work being carried out will be?

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 301 E/159

Is the Commission in possession of information as to the latest steps by the Spanish authorities to prevent
the discharge of waste water, following the Commission’s action against Spain for its failure to apply the
legislation on purification plants?

What specific action does the Commission intend to undertake to protect the SCI area and its posidonia
beds?

(1) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7.
(2) OJ L 73, 14.3.1997, p. 5.
(3) OJ L 175, 5.7.1985, p. 40.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(12 July 2002)

Projects consisting of the extraction of sand, such as the one mentioned by the Honourable Member, may
fall within the scope of Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985, as amended by Council Directive
97/11/EC of 3 March 1997, on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the
environment, since they are listed in Annex II thereof (cid:1) point 2 c), ‘extraction of minerals by marine or
fluvial dredging’.

Pursuant to the above Directive, Member States shall determine through a case-by-case examination,
thresholds or criteria or a combination of both approaches whether a project listed in Annex II shall be
made subject to an assessment in accordance with Articles 5-10 of the Directive. For this purpose, Member
States shall take into account the selection criteria set out in Annex III of the Directive, which refer to the
characteristics of the project, its location and the characteristics of the potential impact. Member States
shall ensure that the determination or the requirement for an assessment is made available to the public.

The facts raised by the Honourable Member form the subject of a complaint procedure. Within the
framework of the handling of this case, the Commission is making representations to the Spanish
Authorities in order to request further information concerning these facts. The Commission will ensure
that the provisions of the above mentioned Council Directives are taken into account by the Spanish
Authorities.

(2002/C 301 E/171)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1487/02

by María Sornosa Martínez (PSE) to the Commission

Subject: Preservation of posidonia meadows

(29 May 2002)

Posidonia oceanica, which is accorded priority protection in Annex 1 to Directive 92/43/EEC (1) (Habitats),
is in sharp decline along the entire Mediterranean coast. The WWF study of ‘The Mediterranean coastline:
diagnosis and conservation’, states that the density of clumps has fallen in 78 % of the Spanish coast’s
posidonia oceanica beds, and this appears to confirm that there is a general shrinkage in almost all the
beds.

In the case of the Spanish coasts, where this habitat is particularly well represented, the extent and general
state of conservation of the beds have declined in recent decades due to massive human pressure, including
in particular:

(cid:1) fishing (especially trawling), which in the case of

the Murcian and Valencian Autonomous

Communities, has already damaged over 40 % of the surface of the beds;

(cid:1) the steady proliferation of marinas and other tourist installations, particularly on the Valencian coast,

where saturation point has already been reached due to excessive town planning pressures;

(cid:1) pollution and discharges, which decrease the vegetable biomass and result in a loss of biological
diversity in the beds, over and above changes to the vegetable make-up of the associated plant
community;

(cid:1) etc.