The European Union said Wednesday it has given Poland a week to stop work on a highway running through a unique protected habitat in a test case of how the new EU member states deal with environmental issues.
BRUSSELS -- The European Union said Wednesday it has given Poland a week to stop work on a highway running through a unique protected habitat in a test case of how the new EU member states deal with environmental issues.
"We don't accept irreversible damage," EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas told reporters. If the Polish government does not back down in a week, Dimas said he will seek an injunction from the EU's highest court to suspend the highway project.
Polish authorities have approved plans to construct a 17-kilometer (10-mile) section of the Via Baltica highway to Finland and let it run through a protected peat bog where rare eagles, wolves and lynx roam.
Dimas called the Rospuda river valley one of the best maintained primeval forests of Central Europe. He said that since clearance work in the wetlands was about to start on the highway project he had no option but to threaten to take the member state to court and get a suspension of the works.
"They should not start work. It is very simple. They should not cut down the trees. How will we get them back?" he asked. The valley is protected by the European Union's habitat law NATURA 2000.
Under EU rules, Dimas sent a second warning Wednesday, and barring a positive answer from Warsaw within a week, the court procedure will start.
"We expect an answer in seven days. At the end of the seventh day, we shall go to court and ask for an injunction," he said.
Poland joined the EU with nine other central European and Mediterranean nations in 2004, and Bulgaria and Romania swelled the EU further to 27 nations on Jan. 2. Many of the newcomers have to make tough choices between the expansion of their transport network and the protection of pristine land.
Environmental groups backed Dimas' determined approach. "We recognize the need for improved infrastructure in Poland, but any development must follow the EU legal framework," said Marta Wisniewska of WWF Poland.
Clairie Papazoglou of BirdLife said her group too was "extremely pleased that the European Commission is expediting its legal action. Urgent action is required given the fact that works already started last week in the Rospuda Valley thus totally disregarding the EUs nature legislation."
Source: Associated Press
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