Drainage around protected nature must be assessed for potential damage, says the European Commission following a complaint from the environmental organisation Dryade.
Flemish regulations violate European nature laws, specifically the Habitats Directive. This is the response of the European Commission to a complaint filed by the non-profit organisation Dryade in February. The organisation approached the Commission because it believed that activities in and around European protected nature that are subject to reporting requirements, such as drainage, should be assessed for their potential damage to nature. They do not receive a 'proper assessment', as it is officially termed. This is only required for activities that require a permit. According to Dryade, drainage is the most relevant of those activities that must be reported.
It cannot be ruled out that drainage has significant consequences for the protected areas, the Commission writes in its response. Not making an assessment of the environmental damage for such activities should therefore be considered an 'incorrect transposition of the Habitats Directive'.
No infringement procedure
However, the European Commission is not immediately reprimanding Flanders. No infringement procedure is being initiated yet. But in the letter, the Commission indicates that it is reviewing the entire Flemish nature policy and may launch the infringement procedure as early as this autumn.
In an initial response, Environment Minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA) stated that she takes the Commission's message 'seriously'. 'If the regulations from the past are insufficiently precise, we will look into that thoroughly. We have the measures from the Blue Deal to make Flanders 'wetter'. A tightening of the regulations is also part of that.'
Wallonia has also received a European reprimand for similar reasons. In May 2011, the European Court of Justice condemned the Walloon Region because the Walloon nature decree did not impose an appropriate assessment for activities that require notification, only for those that require a permit. The Walloon government is now adapting to that ruling. Dryade found inspiration in that. 'The Flemish regulations are a perfect copy of the condemned and meanwhile adjusted Walloon regulations,' says initiator Dries Verhaeghe.
In 2021, the non-profit organisation Dryade already filed a complaint against the administrations of polders and water management in Flanders, because they allegedly drain land unlawfully according to the association. The issue of drainage and land drying is also the subject of a persistent struggle that Francis Van den Abbeele, a resident of Berlare, is waging against the drainage of the polder between the Scheldt and the Durme. He and his lawyer Griet Cnudde have long maintained that draining should require a permit. Demir has already agreed with them. Earlier, the environmental inspection had already indicated that pumping water away from nature reserve De Zegge in Geel could no longer occur without a permit or an assessment of the effects on nature.