Poland officially warned over Via Baltica road plans

04/05/2007 00:00:00 December 2006. The European Commission has officially opened legal infringement procedures against the Polish government for consenting to a series of 8 road developments along the Via Baltica route which would severely damage important, and protected, natural sites. This move has been welcomed by environmental NGOs BirdLife International, CEE Bankwatch Network, WWF, and their Polish partners OTOP (the Polish Society for the Protection of Birds) and Polish Green Network. The road developments as they are currently proposed run straight through the Augustow and Knyszyn Primeval Forests and the Biebrza Marshes National Park. These areas contain a magnificent array of threatened wildlife including wolf, lynx and Lesser- spotted Eagle Aquila pomarina and White-tailed Eagles Haliaeetus albicilla. The Biebrza Marshes are also the most important breeding site in Europe for the globally-threatened Aquatic Warbler Acrocephalus paludicola and the Greater-spotted Eagle Aquila clanga. All of the areas in question are protected as Special Protected Areas (SPA) under the Birds Directive and are or should be proposed as Sites of Community Interest (SCI) under the Habitats Directive – Europe’s strongest laws for the protection of natural environments.

‘The Polish government has broken its promise to conduct a Strategic Environmental Assessment before starting construction of the Via Baltica corridor by starting to upgrade its preferred route in advance of the SEA results. At the same time, expert reports show that there are shorter, less damaging and more economically viable routes available. It is time for construction to stop and due thought and process to be given to the law.’ said CEE Bankwatch Network representative Robert Cyglicki.