Attempts to sink Venice dam project flood into EU

Date: 25/03/04

By Dominic Standish

THE 'mother of all battles' has begun against 'Moses'. This is not a new religious conflict, but how Michele Vianello, an Italian Democratic Left MP, described the rejuvenated campaign against the mobile barrier project in Venice.

A new alliance of Italian opposition MPs and environmentalists has asked the European Commission to block the project and other appeals have followed.

'Moses', or Mosè in Italian, is the biblical name widely used for the 79 mobile barriers designed to minimize the impact of flooding in Venice.

Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, inaugurated the Mosè project in May 2003.

Since then, preparatory work has begun at the entrances to the Venetian lagoon where the barriers will rise from the seabed to block high tides. On 20 January 2004, the regional Commission to Safeguard Venice voted in favour of the final executive phase of Mosè and the Venice Water Authority gave its approval on 30 January.

But members of the Green Party and the Democratic Left - the biggest opposition party - have responded by joining forces in an attempt to stop Project Mosè, with the backing of environmental groups such as Italia Nostra and the Italian World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

There are several strategies. On 26 January, the Green and Communist Refoundation parties made a formal request for a local referendum on the plan.

Then Italia Nostra and the WWF asked the Venice Regional Administrative Tribunal on 11 February to suspend work on Mosè.

“It is not possible that one of the most important constructions in the world has not been subject to an environmental impact evaluation,” said WWF secretary Gaetano Benedetto.

A decision is expected on 6 May.

The third strategy against the mobile barriers is the appeal to the EU. More than 140 Italian opposition MPs signed a letter on 4 February asking Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström to investigate Project Mosè.

The letter states that the funding, modifications and approval of the plan have not followed the correct procedures.

It also notes that “in 1997, a negative judgement was passed on Mosè by the Environmental Impact Assessments Commission, a negative judgement confirmed in a 1998 decree by the environment minister”.

The body examined the 1997 environmental impact study on Mosè for the environment ministry.

The ministry was then run by a leading Green, Edo Ronchi, who issued the 1998 decree that stalled Mosè.

This decree was annulled by the Regional Administrative Tribunal court in 2000.

The impact study had concluded the system would efficiently protect Venice from high tides and have a low environmental impact, as did two teams of international experts.

However, doubts remain. On 16 March 2004 the Venice Provincial Council decided to ask the EU whether the environmental impact assessment procedures for the project have been correctly followed.

Nevertheless, 280 Italian MPs, mainly from the governing coalition, have signed a letter to the EU supporting Mosè. The mother of all battles appears to be hotting up.

• Dominic Standish is a Brussels-based freelance journalist. He contributed two chapters on Project Mose to books published in 2003.