Environment : effects of public and private projects (amend. Directive 85/337/EEC)

The rapporteur, Mr Lannoye (Greens, B), began by highlighting the positive aspects of the common position: the consultation procedure for cross-border projects and the extension of the list in Annex 1 - projects that were subject to a compulsory impact study; he then went on to criticise a number of shortcomings: in the case of high-voltage lines, for example, the choice of a 225 000 volt threshold, whereas most of the projects were set at 220 000 volts; the derogation for undertakings producing lubricants and the non-inclusion of installations manufacturing hydrocarbons at sea. As regards Annex 2, which concerned non-compulsory impact studies, the rapporteur noted that the Council had backed down in the face of the Commission’s proposal on the pretext of respect for the principle of subsidiarity. This was why the Committee on the Environment had put forward a series of amendments aimed at extending the scope of the directive, in cases where the decision would be the responsibility of Member States, to include defence projects, power stations and large-scale intensive farming operations. The Commissioner, Mrs Bjerregaard, declared that she could accept a number of amendments, including those aimed at including in Annex 1 intensive livestock rearing installations with a capacity of more than 100 animals and producing more than 170 kg of nitrogen per hectare of spreading area, and those that sought to include in golf courses and related installations in Annex 2.