92001E0165

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0165/01

by Nelly Maes (Verts/ALE) and Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(31 January 2001)

Subject: Notification under the Habitats Directive

The Habitats Directive affords Member States the opportunity of implementing projects of social importance if they clash with ecological provisions. Article 6(4) of Directive 92/43/EEC(1) says: If, in spite of a negative assessment of the implications for the site and in the absence of alternative solutions, a plan or project must nevertheless be carried out for imperative reasons of overriding public interest, including those of a social or economic nature, the Member State shall take all compensatory measures necessary to ensure that the overall coherence of Natura 2000 is protected. It shall inform the Commission of the compensatory measures adopted.

Can the Commission provide a full and detailed breakdown of such information it has received since the entry into force of the Habitats Directive?

(1) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(14 March 2001)

Since the entry into force of the Habitats Directive, Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, on 5 June 1994, the Commission has issued, upon request of the Member States, two opinions related to the application of article 6.4(2).

These opinions concerned the following cases in Germany:

- Crossing of the SPA/pSCI's Naturschutzgebiet Mecklenburgische Schweiz, Recknitz- und Trebeltal and Peenetal vom Kummerower See bis Schadefaehre by the contruction of the A20 motorway in the Land of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. This case was the subject of complaint procedures 94/4764 and 97/4967. The Commission published opinion 96/15/EC of 18 December 1995 on the case(1).

- Extension of the DASA aircraft factory into the SPA/pSCI Muehlenberger Loch, Hamburg. The project foresaw that the Muehlenberger Loch, a shallow lagoon under tidal influence, would be partly destroyed by a landfill necessary for the industrial extension. The case was the subject of complaint procedure 96/4181, to which seven other complaint files were attached. The Commission delivered its opinion on the case on 19 April 2000, of which a copy is sent to the Honourable Member and the Parliament's Secretariat.

The Commission has received several notifications from Member States about activities at locations that were not (yet) designated as Natura 2000 sites. The Comission has not issued any formal reaction to these notifications, given the fact that designation of the sites should be the first step in the application of Article 6 of the Habitats Directive.

(1) OJ L 6, 9.1.1996.