WRITTEN QUESTION E-1844/10 by Michail Tremopoulos (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

Subject: Judicial proceedings concerning Lake Koroneia

The Commission has initiated judicial proceedings against concerning Lake Koroneia. In June 2009 it sent to Greece a first written warning for failing to implement the necessary legal framework for protecting and preserving the site1. In a question I submitted to the Commission at the beginning of September about whether the Greek authorities had duly replied, the then Commissioner, Mr Dimas, gave a negative reply2.

Following the change in the Greek Government last October, the new Minister of the Environment has apparently set aside orally a deadline of three months to examine the Lake Koroneia issue and the Master Plan implementation projects as a whole and to decide either to speed up implementation of the projects or to amend them. It is reported that this period ended at the end of February, but neither the Greek Government nor the minister have made any statement in this connection. On the other hand, the Prefecture of has completed the project of partly diverting two streams and operating a trench linking Lakes Koroneia and . Scientists and organisations have criticised this3, in particular the fact that the order of implementation of the projects provided for under the Master Pplan has been upset and there is a risk that the neighbouring Lake of Volvi will suffer degradation. They also complain about the fact that the prior measures for addressing the causes of the degradation of Lake Koroneia, for instance, agro-environmental measures, have not yet been adopted.

In view of the above, will the Commission state:

1. Has it received a reply from the Greek authorities to its letter of warning?

2. What stage have the judicial proceedings reached?

3. What view does it take of progress in implementing the Master Plan projects?

1 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/1025&format=HTML&aged=0&languag e=EL&guiLanguage=en. 2 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+WQ+E-2009- 4432+0+DOC+XML+V0//EL&language=EL 3 http://ecology-salonika.org/2010/02/17/emergency-solution-to-koronia-lake/#more-690.

808962.EN PE 435.993