European Union

02/26/2007

Bogged Down

Poland Faces EU Fines for Highway Through Nature Reserve

A planned stretch of highway through a sensitive peat bog has brought Poland into conflict with the European Union. The Polish government could face huge fines if it goes ahead with the controversial project.

Poland's government, bowing to pressure from environmentalists as well as the European Union, has temporarily put the brakes on plans for a highway through a sensitive region of rare peatland near the Lithuanian border.

The €115 million ($150 million) highway through the Rospuda River valley in northeastern Poland faces EU fines running into millions of euros if it's built along the currently planned route.

The scheme, said Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, had become a "national problem." He now wants the region to hold a referendum on the issue.

Kaczynski told a news conference that Poland needed the road to improve trade with its neighbors, but also said, "According to law, this controversy can be solved in one way only: by asking the opinion of the residents of the region."

Poland plans to build a 17-kilometer stretch of highway through the wilderness region as part of an international expressway project. The road, which is known as the European route E67 or the Via Baltica, is intended to run from the Czech Republic through Poland to Finland and is scheduled to be completed by 2020.

The project has already been under way for 10 years. However, when Poland joined the EU in 2004, it faced new laws enforcing a network of protected European habitats, agreed on by member states and enforced by the European Commission.

Authorities in Brussels say a planned 500-meter stretch through a protected peat bog near the Rospuda River violates EU rules, and a regional referendum would do nothing to help Warsaw duck the fines.

"Any government is free to organize a referendum ... but it won't stop the legal proceedings we're undertaking," said EU spokesman Barbara Helfferich, according to the Associated Press. "The EU Habitats and Birds Directives set out conditions under which the (project) can be undertaken. Those conditions have so far not been met by the Polish government."

The British Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said last week in a statement that the planned highway project threatens "strongholds of lynx, wolf and the most important European Union populations of two globally-threatened birds: the greater spotted eagle and aquatic warbler."

'We understand the need for upgrading the road system, but we object to these decisions being taken without proper environmental evaluation," commented the RSPB's Helen Byron.

The dispute has mobilized activists from both sides on the ground. Environmentalists have been camping out in treetops in the valley since Polish authorities approved the plan on Feb. 9. Meanwhile local residents in favor of the highway mounted a counter- demonstration last weekend.

Polish Environment Minister Jan Szyszko is expected in Brussels on Monday in an attempt to resolve the issue.

msm/ap

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