Eleven Days Late Period

THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THE SYSTEM MOSE

The European Commission is to close proceedings for the protection of the environment in the lagoon of Venice "reiterating the need to ensure a fair balance between the need to protect Venice, on the one hand, and to safeguard the ecological importance of the lagoon on the other" and "will continue to monitor the implementation of the package of measures announced by the Italian authorities ": what is today providing the Commission with respect to open proceedings against Italy for the realization of Moses, the system of dams against high water.

The Commission has announced that it intends to close the case "as a result of the measures that the Italian authorities have recently proposed to limit the extent of damage to ecosystems and to offset the impact of the works."

The Commission sent the Italian authorities for two letters of formal notice in December 2005 and July 2007, the environmental impact of the levee system furniture. "After lengthy exchanges with the Commission, the Italian authorities are now committed to implement a series of measures to contain the impact on protected areas and some of them have already been taken, "said the Commission today, recalling in particular the three measures: the suspension of certain works in certain periods of the year not unduly disturb the birds that inhabit the lagoon, and the scrutiny of the work by independent bodies and the creation of a website open to the public by providing information on work in progress and outcome of environmental monitoring, the designation of other areas in the lagoon as sites of Community Importance (SCI) protected under the Habitats Directive ".