Closed on 31/03/2024
* Admissibility date reflects the date the case was officially registered. All other dates pertain to the date in which a stage was completed.
Case Description
Complaint
The complaint concerns the alleged unmitigated environmental and social impact of a railway section between Tarragona and Sant Vicenç de Calders covered by the Mediterranean Railway Corridor, an EIB’s co-financed project.
EIB-CM action
During the initial assessment phase, the EIB-CM identified two allegations concerning (i) the project’s unmitigated significant negative noise impact, and (ii) the risk of contamination from accidents on the railway section concerned with the complaint. The allegation of non-compliance of the project with environmental impact assessment (EIA) law (classification of the project and absence of an EIA) was dismissed. This issue had been previously addressed in the Conclusions Report for the case SG/E/2015/03. The authorities followed the procedure called ‘notification’. This was confirmed by the promoter, which corroborated the application of the notification procedure under national law.
Conclusion
Following the EIB-CM review, the EIB-CM found allegations (i) and (ii) to be ungrounded.
Outcome
The EIB-CM issued one suggestion for improvement when closing its compliance review in January 2024. The EIB-CM reminded the EIB operational services that the operations within the EU must be compliant with all applicable environmental law, including where relevant the Environmental Noise Directive, as applicable in this case. To this respect, the EIB operational services should encourage the borrower to inform the public on how the significant, including cumulative, impacts are taken into account in every phase of the operation’s implementation, including the operational one.
Monitoring
The EIB operational services were reminded of the importance to systematically apply these rules for all projects. The EIB-CM considered that in this situation, the reminder was sufficient to prevent any future complaints related to this matter. Therefore, the EIB-CM closed the monitoring process of this case as of end Q1 2024.