Question for written answer E-008690/2014 to the Commission Rule 130 Marina Albiol Guzmán (GUE/NGL), Ernest Urtasun (Verts/ALE) and Javi López (S&D)

Subject: Oil exploration near the

A number of oil exploration projects, headed by the firms Seabird (Catalan and Menorcan coasts), Cairn Energy (Gulf of and Ibiza) and Spectrum (Mallorca and Menorca), are due to be conducted off ’s Mediterranean coast. Although the projects cannot go ahead until the Ministry for Industry has issued an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), reports, including one published by the Autonomous Government of the Balearic Islands in July 2013, claim that Seabird has sunk seismic probes off the coasts of and Menorca. The NGO Tursiops claimed in 2013 that similar work was being carried out in Mallorca and Ibiza.

1. Does the Commission plan to open an investigation and penalise the companies involved if they have sunk seismic probes in the Balearic Sea before the relevant EIA has been issued and, at the same time, take the Spanish Government to task for its failure to act?

2. Does it regard drilling for oil as compatible with the SCI and SPAB status awarded to the Balearic Sea? Does it believe, given their implications, both in overall terms and for the protection of maritime ecosystems, that responsibility for conducting environmental studies and assessments should be exercised at EU - rather than Member State - level?

3. Does it regard the resubmission by Seabird of a project rejected in January, now with a different drilling pattern, as a deliberate attempt to circumvent the law?

1039128.EN PE 542.122