Divača-Koper Second Rail Track

Complaint

The complaint concerns the Divača-Koper second rail track project, which consists of the construction of 27 km of single-track railway line on a new alignment to increase rail capacity between the port of Koper and the rail junction in Divača in Slovenia.

In April 2021, the EIB Group Complaints Mechanism (EIB-CM) issued an initial assessment report establishing the allegations, as follow: (1) project’s negative impacts on the environment and its non-compliance with the relevant EU regulatory framework (i) compliance with the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive, (ii) compliance with the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive, (iii) compliance with the Water Framework Directive and (iv) compliance with the Habitats Directive, and (2) lack of impact assessment of tunnels in the approval process of the relevant National Spatial Plan. In October 2022, the EIB-CM issued a Conclusions Report for the case SG/E/2020/18 regarding the same project, which had similar allegations.

Conclusions and Outcome

After reviewing the available information, the EIB-CM found areas of non-compliance with the EIB’s own procedures and standards in relation to allegation no 1. Consequently, the EIB-CM issued a recommendation and two suggestions for improvement to the Bank. The EIB-CM noted that allegation no 2 was found ungrounded. It must be noted that although the Bank did not involve an environmental specialist in the project appraisal, one was assigned to the project in June 2022.

The EIB-CM recommended the Bank to request the promoter to (i) update the environmental management plan (EMP), (ii) report to the EIB on the EMP’s implementation and effectiveness and (iii) effectively communicate with relevant stakeholders on the implementation of the EMP and any new project’s developments during the project’s implementation.

The EIB-CM suggested the Bank to (i) request the promoter to submit an assessment of the cumulative impacts of the project, taking into account planned developments and activities in its area of influence including the third track, and (ii) amend the Bank’s procedures in order to effectively appraise environmentally risky projects, especially what concerns the involvement of environmental specialist(s) in the appraisal and monitoring of operations conducted within Natura 2000 network/protected area of national importance.

EIB Management Response

As provided by the EIB Group Complaints Mechanism procedures, and as was the case for this complaint, EIB issued a separate Management Response to the complaint (available below). The Bank stated that any possible future doubling of the track was outside the scope of the approved EIB project, and that any changes to the project scope or related environmental impacts would require further analysis and potentially a second approval by the Bank’s governing bodies. The Bank also noted that the February 2022 revision of the EIB’s Environmental and Social Standards Framework addressed the suggested procedural improvements.

The complainant was provided with both the EIB-CM’s Conclusions Report (available below) and the EIB’s Management Response.

Monitoring

The EIB-CM has closed the monitoring of this case in the fourth quarter of 2025 because: i) in the project documentation prepared for the Bank’s final investment decision in 2023, the competent EIB services confirmed that, despite divergence in views between EIB-CM and the services about the Conclusions Report, the Promoter implemented the recommendations and suggestions that it considered being within its remit as well as relevant and feasible; and ii) the Bank’s updated procedures end 2025 now explicitly refer to the presence of protected areas as one of the criteria for consideration in the environmental risk categorisation and require the involvement of environmental specialists in such projects.