EPAW Statement to MOP-6 on Finalisation of Pending Documents-1
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squandered, citizens angry and disillusi<strong>on</strong>ed, and ever increasing claims <strong>of</strong> adverse<br />
health impacts.<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>EPAW</str<strong>on</strong>g> c<strong>on</strong>tinues <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> be active in two <strong>on</strong>going Communicati<strong>on</strong>s ACCC/C/2013/96<br />
(European Uni<strong>on</strong>) and ACCC/C/2014/112 (Ireland), both <strong>of</strong> which are close <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
finalisati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Draft Decisi<strong>on</strong> VI/8 <strong>on</strong> General Issues <strong>of</strong> Compliance<br />
The draft Decisi<strong>on</strong> VI/8 is very welcome, as the findings and recommendati<strong>on</strong>s <strong>on</strong><br />
compliance in the period 2014–2017 build <strong>on</strong> the Maastricht Recommendati<strong>on</strong>s, the<br />
sec<strong>on</strong>d editi<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> the Aarhus C<strong>on</strong>venti<strong>on</strong> Implementati<strong>on</strong> Guide and previously<br />
endorsed findings and recommendati<strong>on</strong>s <strong>of</strong> the Compliance Committee. Despite<br />
such clarity <strong>on</strong> the obligati<strong>on</strong>s inherent <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> the C<strong>on</strong>venti<strong>on</strong>, it is disturbing <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> see how<br />
so many Parties within the EU c<strong>on</strong>tinue <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> politically bully through renewable<br />
projects, in direct c<strong>on</strong>traventi<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> the provisi<strong>on</strong>s <strong>of</strong> the C<strong>on</strong>venti<strong>on</strong>.<br />
In particular, the obligati<strong>on</strong>s inherent <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> multi-tier decisi<strong>on</strong>-making are <strong>on</strong>ce again<br />
articulated in these recent findings, in that:<br />
• If a particular tier <strong>of</strong> the decisi<strong>on</strong>-making process has no public participati<strong>on</strong>,<br />
then the next stage that does have public participati<strong>on</strong> should provide the<br />
opportunity for the public <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> also participate <strong>on</strong> the opti<strong>on</strong>s decided at that<br />
earlier tier. 2<br />
The EU and its Member States clearly see themselves <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> date, as exempt from these<br />
provisi<strong>on</strong>s. This can be seen in the manner in which they have pursed the<br />
implementati<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> the NREAPs and the related Projects <strong>of</strong> Comm<strong>on</strong> Interest, the<br />
latter being the particular subject matter <strong>of</strong> Communicati<strong>on</strong> C/96. As Communicati<strong>on</strong><br />
C/112 also dem<strong>on</strong>strates, they have turned the whole c<strong>on</strong>cept <strong>of</strong> public participati<strong>on</strong><br />
<strong>on</strong> downstream renewable project approvals in<str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> a meaningless pro forma exercise,<br />
in which opti<strong>on</strong>s are no l<strong>on</strong>ger open and the public participati<strong>on</strong> is a complete sham.<br />
Diktat instead prevails, as the <strong>on</strong>ly criteri<strong>on</strong> is <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> meet a manda<str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g>ry target and plan<br />
previously decided without input from the public.<br />
Draft Decisi<strong>on</strong> VI/8f C<strong>on</strong>cerning Compliance by the European Uni<strong>on</strong><br />
It <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g>ok less than a year for the EU and its Member States <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> develop and legally<br />
adopt the NREAPs for this simply enormous renewable investment. Yet year after<br />
year, the representatives <strong>of</strong> the EU Commissi<strong>on</strong> persistently obfuscated and<br />
deliberately time wasted with regard <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> compliance with Decisi<strong>on</strong> V/9g. Bizarrely,<br />
despite being provided with a period <strong>of</strong> more than two years by the Compliance<br />
Committee, they were unable <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> write <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> and obtain from the same Member States,<br />
details as <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> how the public participati<strong>on</strong> provisi<strong>on</strong>s <strong>of</strong> Article 7 were addressed in the<br />
adopti<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> these NREAPs. They also choose <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> simply ignore <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> provide a resp<strong>on</strong>se<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> the Committee’s written questi<strong>on</strong>s related <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> the same, but were well able <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> write<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> members <strong>of</strong> the public in Ireland, formally denying that any such n<strong>on</strong>-compliance<br />
had occurred in the first place.<br />
The sec<strong>on</strong>d part <strong>of</strong> draft Decisi<strong>on</strong> VI/8f in relati<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> access <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> the European Court <strong>of</strong><br />
Justice is particularly welcome and highly important. As the Communicant in C/54<br />
2 ECE/MP.PP/C.1/2017/3 (Czechia)<br />
2