Source: European Parliament
As referred to in the reply to Written Question E-003188/2022[1], pursuant to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive[2], Member States are primarily responsible to ensure compliance with their obligations under EU law.
It is for the competent national authorities to determine, prior to granting development consent, whether the project[3] shall be subject to an assessment because of its likely significant effects on the environment.
The EIA Directive provides for specific review procedures that allow the public concerned to challenge the substantive or procedural legality of decisions, acts or omissions subject to the directive’s provisions on public participation.
Member States are also responsible under the Habitats[4] and Birds Directives[5] to conduct an appropriate assessment of the project’s implications for the site in view of its conservation objectives .
Where the obligation to carry out assessments arises simultaneously from the EIA Directive and the Habitats Directive, the Member State shall, where appropriate, provide for coordinated and/or joint procedures.
Based on the available information, the Commission cannot assess the authorities’ compliance with the above obligations in the particular case at issue here.
Moreover, the Commission’s strategic approach to enforcement action focuses on systemic non-compliance cases[6]. W ithout prejudice to the Commission’s role as guardian of the Treaties, t he most effective way to address an individual case of alleged non-compliance is to use the national review procedures that allow the public concerned to challenge the substantive or procedural legality of decisions, acts or omissions subject to the EIA public participation provisions .
- [1] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2022-003188_EN.html
- [2] Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, OJ L 26, 28.1.2012, p. 1-21.
- [3] Projects for the construction of museums may be considered as urban development projects, which are referred to in point 10(b) of Annex II of Directive 2011/92/EU.
- [4] Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7-50.
- [5] Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds (Codified version). OJ L 20, 26.1.2010, p. 7-25.
- [6] As set out in the communication of 19 January 2017 (EU law: Better results through better application — C/2016/8600, OJ C 18, 19.1.2017, p. 10-20) and in the communication of 13 October 2022, COM(2022)518 final, ‘Enforcing EU law for a Europe that delivers’.