Legal clashes expected over birds directive

Legal action could speed up this summer over continuing infringements of EU conservation law. The two separate challenges concern the 1979 EU birds directive, which with the 1992 habitats directive forms the core of EU nature conservation policy.

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas is meeting Polish officials this week, after the Polish highway directorate on Monday (16 July) said that it would restart construction of the Via Baltica bypass in north-east Poland on 1 August. Work had been temporarily suspended during the bird breeding season.

A Commission environ-ment spokeswoman said that the Commission would ask the courts to impose an interim ban on the bypass, unless Poland agreed not to resume construction work next month.

The Commission issued a legal challenge to the Via Baltica last December, saying that the road would violate the birds and habitats directives by cutting sites that were protected or proposed for protection.

According to Polish press reports, the country’s environment ministry says that failure to continue work on the Via Baltica could lead to legal chall-enges from the construction company and investors.

Dimas on Tuesday discussed a separate alleged breach of the EU birds directive with the Maltese Environment Minister, George Pullicino. The Commission in March sent a legal warning over an annual Maltese bird hunt, which is suspected of killing species protected under the birds directive.

Malta this year reduced the length of the spring bird hunting season from 58 to 40 days, in the light of previous legal challenges. But the Commission says that the hunt still does not meet derogation criteria set out in the birds directive.

The Commission is now analysing a response it received to the legal challenge in April. A Maltese diplomat said that the infringement proceedings were still at a very early stage.

BirdLife, a conservation group, hopes for a second warning in autumn at the latest, followed by action in time to stop next year’s spring hunt. BirdLife accused Malta of trying to delay the infringement process in an effort to avoid EU court action during the March 2008 elections.

Legal action could speed up this summer over continuing infringements of EU conservation law. The two separate challenges concern the 1979 EU birds directive, which with the 1992 habitats directive forms the core of EU nature conservation policy.