Bulgaria and Poland for failing to adequately assess the impact of construction projects on protected nature areas.

EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said: “Natura 2000 – Europe’s network of protected areas – is crucial to the long-term survival of our most valuable and threatened species and habitats.

The EC has sent first written warning letters to Bulgaria and Poland. The latter was admonished for breaching nature protection laws by approving and almost completing an express road that cuts through four Natura 2000 sites.

The EC considers  the original impact assessments for the Szczecin-Gorzów section of the S3 expressway, on which the authorization of the project was based as “clearly inadequate.” Additional assessments carried out after the construction work started also concluded that there were no significant effects on the sites.

However, this contradicts evidence that priority forest habitats would be partially destroyed in several Natura 2000 sites, and bird habitats compromised in another site, the EC said.

The EC is also closing a long-running case against Germany, which has designated new bird protection sites. “I also welcome the closure of the case against Germany concerning areas protected under the Birds Directive: this confirms that progress is being made towards completion of the Natura 2000 network,” Dimas said.

Clive Leviev-Sawyer

This is an edited version of an article which originally appeared in The Sofia Echo