WRITTEN QUESTION E-0022/03 by Laura González Álvarez (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Environmental repercussions of the Agua Blanca mining project in Monesterio (Badajoz, Spain).
Date: 2003-01-20
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Spain, application of EU law, environmental impact, environmental law, mining operation, nature reserve, protection of animal life, water protection

18.9.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 222 E/135

which is imposed on the contracting authority consists in ensuring, for the benefit of any potential
tenderer, a degree of advertising sufficient to enable the services market to be opened up to competition
and the impartiality of procurement procedures to be reviewed’ (2).

Furthermore, the Commission has proposed a Regulation on the granting of public service contracts for
public passenger transport in road, rail and inland waterways (3). In this proposal the Commission supports
mandatory tendering, with minor exceptions, of public service contracts in case of any financial
compensation to the operator or exclusive rights. The two main arguments for this proposal are that:
tendering of public services has proved to be an effective instrument for creating more attractive services
to passengers at lower costs to the taxpayer; and that the direct award of financial compensation or
exclusive rights for the provision of public transport services is vulnerable to legal challenge. Therefore,
although tendering as provided in the Regulation may not be mandatory at the moment, directly awarded
contracts are, in the Commission’s view, less desirable and legally vulnerable.

Public authorities organising a tender for rail public services should take into account the service quality
for passengers as is also stated in the Commission proposal. A request for investment could be part of that.

The Commission believes that tendering of rail services, especially regional rail services has given good
results up until now for the passenger. Experiments with tendering of public transport in the eastern part
of the Netherlands have proven to be successful, notably in terms of integration of bus and rail services.

The Commission has submitted a proposal concerning public service requirements in passenger transport,
and would favour further Transport Council debate at the earliest opportunity in order to make progress
on the dossier, and to allow the achievement of the objectifs of the Common Transport Policy as set out in
the White Paper European transport policy 2010: Time to decide (4).

see Court of Justice of the European Communities, case C-324/98, Telaustria.

(1) E.g. construction of a railway line and operation of it.
(2)
(3) OJ C 151 E, 25.6.2002.
(4) COM(2001) 370 final.

(2003/C 222 E/158)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0022/03

by Laura González Álvarez (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(20 January 2003)

Subject: Environmental repercussions of the Agua Blanca mining project in Monesterio (Badajoz, Spain)

An opencast nickel mine, called Agua Blanca, is planned for Monesterio (Badajoz), in an area recognised as
a nature reserve of great ecological significance. In addition, there are plans for three reservoirs for waste
covering over 100 hectares and containing highly contaminating products. The project would create slag
heaps, destroy 350 hectares of woodland and necessitate the removal of over 40 million cubic metres of
earth. The environmental impact study did not fully appreciate the pristine state of the area and excluded
some of the most important species living there, such as the black stork, the Iberian lynx, the wild cat, the
mongoose, various types of bat, and the alytes obstetricansm, a variety of toad, as well as plants such as
the flueggea tinctoria, orchids etc., whilst citing some species which do not inhabit the area, such as the
stoat.

The mining project is an example of an unsustainable development, in both social and environmental
terms, which will wreak havoc on its natural surroundings, as happened in cases such as that of
Aznalcóllar. One of the main problems of the project is that if any of the contaminating substances escape
or filter out, they will end up in the Ribera de Cala, catalogued as water of importance to European
indigenous fish (protected under the Habitats Directive).

C 222 E/136

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

18.9.2003

Given that this project could infringe EU environmental legislation, what measures will the Commission
take, as guardian of the Treaties, to ensure compliance with Community law and, more specifically,
Directive 85/337/EEC (1) on the assessment of the repercussions of certain projects on the environment
and Directive 92/43/EEC (2) on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora?

(1) OJ L 175, 5.7.1985, p. 40.
(2) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(25 February 2003)

With regard to 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), Article 2 of the Directive stipulates that, before consent
is given, projects likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue, inter alia, of their nature,
size or location must be made subject to an assessment with regard to their effects. Article 3 stipulates that
this assessment must identify, describe and assess in an appropriate manner the direct and indirect effects
of a project on several factors, including fauna and flora.

The Commission will be contacting the Spanish authorities very shortly to question them about the
contents of the impact assessment called into question by the Honourable Member and to ask them for
information on how Directive 85/337/EEC, and Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the
conservation of natural habitats and of wild flora and fauna (2), have been applied in this instance.

As guardian of the Treaties, the Commission will in any event take the necessary steps to ensure that
Community law is complied with in this particular case.

(1) OJ L 175, 5.7.1985.
(2) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.

(2003/C 222 E/159)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0023/03

by Yves Piétrasanta (Verts/ALE), Marie Isler Béguin (Verts/ALE),
Renzo Imbeni (PSE), Catherine Guy-Quint (PSE), Harlem Désir (PSE),
Alonso Puerta (GUE/NGL), Gérard Onesta (Verts/ALE),
Francis Wurtz (GUE/NGL), Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca (PPE-DE),
Charles Tannock (PPE-DE), Daniel Cohn-Bendit (Verts/ALE),
Monica Frassoni (Verts/ALE), Giuseppe Di Lello Finuoli (GUE/NGL),
Pedro Marset Campos (GUE/NGL), Alexander de Roo (Verts/ALE),
Didier Rod (Verts/ALE), Danielle Auroi (Verts/ALE), Paul Lannoye (Verts/ALE),
Bart Staes (Verts/ALE), Caroline Jackson (PPE-DE), Struan Stevenson (PPE-DE),
Theodorus Bouwman (Verts/ALE), Armando Cossutta (GUE/NGL),
Nuala Ahern (Verts/ALE), Jan Wiersma (PSE)
and Robert Goodwill (PPE-DE) to the Council

Subject: EU aid and intervention for the victims of Chernobyl

(20 January 2003)

The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986 was the most serious nuclear accident ever to
have occurred in peacetime, leaving a terrifying and devastating radioactive legacy that will continue to be
felt for many centuries to come, mainly in the European states of Ukraine and, above all, Belarus, countries
already fragile as a result of undergoing abrupt economic, social and political transition.

As well as the great many victims directly affected by radiation among the local inhabitants and the
600 000 ‘liquidators’ who took part in the clean-up operation at the site of this tragedy of the industrial
age, there are also those who have been forced to stay in the area or return there, due to economic
constraints or political obscurantism.