Source: European Parliament
Priority question for written answer P-002102/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Cristina Guarda (Verts/ALE), Leoluca Orlando (Verts/ALE), Ignazio Roberto Marino (Verts/ALE)
The desalination plant on the River Tara[1], built using NRRP funds, poses a serious risk to the ecosystems of the Tara, the Mar Grande and the Mar Piccolo in Apulia. Apulia’s regional environmental agency and the Special Superintendency for the NRRP opposed its construction.
It fails to fully uphold the ‘do no significant harm’ (DNSH) principle and is at odds with key European environmental legislation, including: Directive 2000/60/EC, given that extracting water disrupts the natural flow of the River Tara, which has serious repercussions for ecosystem services; Directive 92/43/EEC and Directive 2009/147/EC, as reducing water flow poses a threat to species of Community interest and protected species such as the otter (Lutra lutra); Directive 2011/92/EU (EIA Directive), as amended by Directive 2014/52/EU, in the absence of an assessment of the cumulative effects of brine discharge in the Mar Grande, which would alter trophic cycles and undermine mussel farming; Regulation (EU) 2021/241 and (EU) 2020/852, with reference to the DNSH principle; Directive 2014/52/EU (amending Directive 2011/92/EU), as the EIA was not approved before the end of the single and final approval procedure joint meetings. What is more, no formal DNSH assessment was carried out in the environmental impact assessment.
In the light of the above:
- 1.Does the Commission think that those EU directives have been breached?
- 2.Does it believe the project was worthy of NRRP financing?
Supporter[2]
Submitted: 26.5.2025