Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of Spain.
Date: 2004-09-16
26. It is settled case-law that the subject-matter of proceedings brought under Article 226 EC is circumscribed by the pre-litigation procedure provided for by that provision and that, consequently, the Commission’s reasoned opinion and the application must be based on the same complaints  (see, inter alia, Case C-139/00 Commission  v Spain  [2002] ECR I‑6407, paragraph 18).
45. While it is not necessary in the context of these proceedings to give a ruling on whether all the language versions of point 7 of Annex I to Directive 85/337 use a term equivalent to the term ‘tracks’ (‘vias’ in the Spanish-language version) or on the compatibility with the Directive of the Spanish legislation adopted to implement that provision inasmuch as it uses the term ‘lines’ (‘líneas’), it is clear from the Court’s case-law that the need for a uniform interpretation of Community law requires, in the case of divergence between different language versions of a provision, that it be interpreted by reference to the purpose and general scheme of the rules of which it forms part (see, inter alia, Case C-72/95 Kraaijeveld and Others  [1996] ECR I-5403, paragraph 28).
46. The Court has already held that the wording of Directive 85/337 indicates that its scope is wide and its purpose very broad ( Kraaijeveld and Others , cited above, paragraphs 31 and 39).
47. In particular, Articles 1(1) and 2(1) and the first, fifth, sixth, eighth and 11th recitals in the preamble make clear that the Directive’s fundamental objective is that, before consent is granted, projects likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue, inter alia, of their nature, size or location should be made subject to a mandatory assessment with regard to their effects (see to that effect Case C-287/98 Linster  [2000] ECR I-6917, paragraph 52).
49. A project of that kind can have a significant effect on the environment within the meaning of that directive, since it is likely to have lasting effects on, for example, flora and fauna and the composition of soil or even on the landscape and produce significant noise effects, inter alia, so that it must be included in the scope of the Directive. The objective of Directive 85/337 would be seriously undermined if that type of project for the construction of new railway track, even parallel to existing track, could be excluded from the obligation to carry out an assessment of its effects on the environment. Accordingly, a project of that sort cannot be considered a mere modification to an earlier project within the meaning of point 12 of Annex II to the Directive.
52. As the Commission rightly maintains, the project in question is part of a 251-km-long railway line between Valencia and Tarragona, which forms part of the project known as the ‘Mediterranean corridor’, linking the Spanish region of Levante to Catalonia and the French border.
53. If the argument of the Spanish Government were upheld, the effectiveness of Directive 85/337 could be seriously compromised, since the national authorities concerned would need only to split up a long-distance project into successive shorter sections in order to exclude from the requirements of the Directive both the project as a whole and the sections resulting from that division.
58. Moreover, the fact that the national authorities acted in good faith is also irrelevant. It is settled case-law that an action for failure to fulfil obligations is objective in nature and the fact that a failure to fulfil obligations results from a Member State’s incorrect interpretation of the Community-law provisions in question cannot preclude the Court from declaring that there has been such a failure (Case C-73/92 Commission  v Spain  [1993] ECR I-5997, paragraph 19).