WRITTEN QUESTION E-2849/03 by Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Complaints or infringements regarding the implementation of Greece of Community environmental legislation.
Date: 2003-09-26
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Greece, complaint to the Commission, environmental law, environmental offence, infringement procedure (EU), statistics

C 78 E/178

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(16 October 2003)

The Commission was not aware of the project referred to by the Honourable Member.

The Commission has checked that the site in question has been classified as a special protection area (SPA)
for birds pursuant to Article 4 of Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of
wild birds.

It should be noted that the Spanish authorities have also proposed the ‘Es trenc (cid:1) Salobrar de Campos
ES0000037’ site, which covers an area of 1 442 hectares, as a site of Community importance (SCI) for
future inclusion in the Natura 2000 network under the terms of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May
1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora.

The Commission has contacted the Spanish authorities
to seek their comments on how the
abovementioned Directives have been enforced in this particular case and to determine whether the
project in question is likely to have a significant effect on the site in terms of the objectives of Directive
92/43/EEC, in which case the procedure laid down in Article 6 thereof would have to be applied.

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

(2004/C 78 E/0184)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2849/03

by Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(26 September 2003)

Subject: Complaints or infringements regarding the implementation of Greece of Community environ-

mental legislation

In reply to my question E-1829/03 (1), Commissioner Wallström obligingly indicated that it was possible to
obtain general statistics concerning complaints and infringements regarding transposition into Greek law
and implementation of Community environmental legislation in Greece. Would the Commission be kind
enough to forward to me the relevant statistics and the matters to which they relate from 1994 to the
present date?

(1) OJ C 33 E, 6.2.2004, p. 175.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(10 November 2003)

For technical reasons, the Commission can only provide the Honourable Member with statistics relating to
1995 onwards. Thus, between 1995 and 2002 the Commission registered and investigated 257 dossiers
relating to alleged or established infringements of Community environment law in Greece. These dossiers
were opened on the basis of complaints, petitions and parliamentary questions, and on the Commission’s
own initiative. At 24 September 2003, 98 dossiers relating to alleged or established infringements of
Community environment law in Greece were still open.

The infringement procedure laid down by Article 226 of the Treaty was initiated for 85 of the 257
dossiers. Of these 85 dossiers, 19 concerned air pollution, 18 related to Community waste management
legislation, 13 dealt with nature protection, 11 related to chemicals, ten concerned water protection, five
related to Directive 85/337/EEC (1), as amended by Directive 97/11/EC (2), three concerned genetically
modified organisms and six concerned other areas of Community environment law.

(1) OJ L 175, 5.7.1985.
(2) Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997 amending Directive 85/337/EEC on the assessment of the effects of

certain public and private projects on the environment, OJ L 73, 14.3.1997.