‘Green’ concerns threaten to impede networks progress

Date: 29/02/1996

By Michael Mann

EUROPEAN Parliament concerns over the environmental impact of the Trans-European Networks are threatening future financing of the projects.

MEPs are locked in conflict with the Council of Ministers over the guidelines for the TENs and the choice of priority schemes.

The six-week 'conciliation' procedure introduced under the Maastricht Treaty is due to begin next month, with Parliament continuing to apply pressure for tougher environmental impact assessments on all TENs projects in the face of opposition from transport ministers.

The accepted wisdom is that failure by the Parliament and Council to reach a compromise during the conciliation period would effectively block the release of any more money from the TENs budget, allowing only a patchwork of projects funded from elsewhere to go ahead.

Environmental lobbyists and the Parliament's transport committee insist that tight assessment standards, taking account of potential long-term growth in traffic and emissions, must be written into the criteria for planned 'strategic environmental assessments' (SEAs) from the start.

Environmentalists maintain that, in spite of claims to the contrary by Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock, the TENs do not take sufficient account of environmental concerns.

Kinnock says he is not overly concerned by the continuing battle over the TENs guidelines, insisting: “There is a strong consciousness of the necessity of the concept in the Parliament, although there are arguments about the detail and that's natural.”

The Commissioner says their concerns are understandable, but not unresolvable, arguing problems have arisen mainly because the original proposals were drawn up without reference to the Parliament.

“The Parliament makes the case for involvement at every stage. Our view has been that this should be understood, and that there should be regret that they weren't involved at the earliest point. But it's not in the interests of the Parliament or those they represent to divert or impede progress with TENs because of any inadvertent divergence back in 1993 or 1994,” he insists. Kinnock also firmly rejects “misinformation” that insufficient attention has been paid to the environmental effects of the infrastructure projects. Although the application of environmental impact assessments (EIAs) is uneven across member states, “there is no case in which no assessment is carried out and in most cases this assessment is profound”.

Officials in Directorate-General VII (transport) and DGXI (environment) are working slowly towards devising a uniform system for conducting SEAs and considering the Parliament's calls for so-called “corridor analyses” of specific projects such as those crossing the Alps or underneath the English Channel. Their studies are due to be finalised in the next two or three months.

But environmental groups say SEAs will be of little use once construction work on the projects gets under way. Birdlife International, Transport and Environment, and Greenpeace are pressing for SEAs and corridor analyses to be carried out well in advance of building work and in accordance with strict criteria.

They insist this is crucial if the TENs are to live up to one of the objectives listed in the Commission's guidelines, that they “ensure the sustainable and safe mobility of persons and goods ... while contributing to the attainment of the Community's environmental objectives”.

Environmentalists claim “there has been no systematic effort to establish the most environmentally-sound and cost-effective alternatives” to the projects chosen. They also maintain that while studies are already required under the existing EIA rules, these are at best patchy and have no influence on whether or not work goes ahead.

Greenpeace calculates that CO2 emissions caused by TENs road projects will increase by 15&percent;-18&percent; above forecast increases of 42&percent; by 2010. But Kinnock counters this by pointing out that 90&percent; of expenditure on the 14 priority projects is earmarked for rail schemes, compared to 1&percent; for aviation and just 9&percent; for roads, and stressing that most of the 75,000 kilometres of roads on the list will simply be upgraded.

Greenpeace also claims the TENs “will obstruct the coherent ecological network of protected sites required by the Habitats Directive”.

Research by Birdlife points to irreversible damage to “special protection areas” designated under the Wild Birds Directive from projects including the Tagus Bridge in Portugal and the Pau to Sagunto motorway link between France and Spain.

It calculates that over 20&percent; of areas designated Important Bird Areas within the EU are to be found within 10 kilometres of the planned road and rail projects, and almost 4&percent; within a two-kilometre radius.