EU to seek court injunction against Poland in highway dispute

BRUSSELS, Belgium: The European Union's top environment official said Monday he would seek a court injunction to suspend construction of a highway in Poland, which is to run across a peat bog protected under EU habitat laws.

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said that the EU's executive office would have no other option but to sue Poland at the EU's highest court if it goes ahead with the project.

A court injunction is a rare measure in environmental issues, underlining the seriousness of the latest disagreement between Poland and the EU executive.

"We intend to send to Poland a second warning in the coming days and to bring the case to court to ask for suspension of the works before irreversible damage has been done," Dimas told reporters after meeting Poland's Environment Minister Jan Szyszko.

He said Szyszko indicated that Warsaw would go ahead with the project, which the Commission says ignores EU rules.

"It appears they will go ahead," Dimas said. "It is clear that fundamental requirements under EU legislation have not been respected."

Szyszko said Poland would stand its ground, adding that Warsaw was not afraid of being sued at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

"I am convinced that Poland has acted in accordance with laws and its interests," he said.

Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Friday he was in favor of allowing local residents to decide in a referendum whether the controversial road project across the Rospuda River valley in northeastern Poland should go ahead.

Polish authorities have approved plans to construct the 17 kilometer (10 mile) section of the Via Baltica highway, linking Poland to Finland. For 500 meters (yards), the road would cut through a protected peat bog in an effort to bypass a nearby town.

The decision, approved Feb. 9, has provoked protests from environmentalists, who have camped in treetops in the valley.

Kaczynski said that bowing to environmentalists would threaten the entire plan to build some 7,000 kilometers (4,000 miles) of badly needed highways in Poland by the year 2020.

The Commission could impose a multimillion euro (dollar) fine on Poland if it gets the injunction and Warsaw still goes ahead with the project.

Source:http:www.iht.com