EU taking Poland to court over highway

The European Commission is taking Poland to the EU's top court to prevent the construction of a highway that would run across protected habitat in one of Europe's best preserved primeval forests, officials said Wednesday.

Polish authorities have approved plans to construct a 10-mile section of the Via Baltica highway linking the country to Finland through a rare peat bog where eagles, wolves and lynx roam. The road would cut through the forest for 500 yards to bypass a town.

"It is with regret that the commission is bringing this case to the European Court of Justice," EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said. "But this course of action is necessary if these precious natural sites of European significance are to be protected from irreparable damage."

Dimas has called the Rospuda Valley one of the best maintained primeval forests of Central Europe, and it is protected by EU habitat laws.

But Poland's government says the road is needed to relieve heavy truck traffic clogging the nearby town of Augustow and that it would provide an economic boost to a rapidly developing region.

The EU executive office said work had started on the bypasses, and it was asking the Luxembourg-based court for interim measures ensuring Poland does not continue with the project near the Lithuanian border, some 190 miles northeast of Warsaw.

It said the Polish authorities had "failed to respond satisfactorily" to letters of warning sent to them by the commission.

In a letter sent to Brussels two weeks ago, Poland said the decision to build the highway was taken before the country joined the EU in 2004, at a time when it was not obliged to observe EU environment protection regulations. But the EU argues this does not exempt Poland from obeying the rules now.

"The commission is confident of its legal position in this case," said EU spokesman Johannes Laitenberger.

Poland's government said it would not back down.

"We were expecting this decision and time has come to hold a matter-of-fact debate concerning Rospuda, based on the bird and the habitat laws," Environment Minister Jan Szyszko told a news conference. "I hope the case will go quickly through the European Court of Justice."

Transport Minister Jerzy Polaczek said a detour that would not lead through the protected area would cost an extra $158 million.

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

The commission could impose a heavy fine on Poland if it gets the injunction and Warsaw still goes ahead with the project.

EU spokeswoman Barbara Helfferich said the fine would depend on how long Poland violates the EU law, the severity of the violation and the country's capacity to pay the amount.

Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has said that caving in to pressure would be a bad precedent for a wider project to build some 4,000 miles of badly needed highways in Poland by the year 2020.

The area was once a river-fed lake that over several thousand years turned into a peat bog. No heavy equipment is at the site and construction has been temporarily halted to respect a ban on disturbing the peace during egg-laying time, which runs from March to July.