October 31, 2016
Belgium, Europe, Press releases

Important ruling from the European Court of Justice

Patrice d’Oultremont, Vent de Raison (Wallonia, Belgium), October 27, 2016, friends-against-wind.org

On October 27, 2016, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued a ruling that the Walloon government (Wallonia, Belgium) acted unlawfully in creating a “norme sectorielle” aimed at considerably facilitating the deployment of wind farms in Wallonia without properly informing the general public and asking their opinion on the matter as required by the European directive 2001/48/CE.

Articles 2(a) and 3(2)(a) of Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment must be interpreted as meaning that a regulatory order, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, containing various provisions on the installation of wind turbines which must be complied with when administrative consent is granted for the installation and operation of such installations comes within the notion of ‘plans and programmes’, within the meaning of that directive.

This is a major success for those opposing onshore wind farms, as the ECJ ruling is immediately applicable to all similar legislation in all of the Member States. For additional information, please go to the ECJ website and look for case C-290/15 (d’Oultremont et al. vs Walloon Government): http://curia.europa.eu/juris/liste.jsf?num=C-290/15

Considering the importance of the ECJ ruling (note that the French and Dutch governments and the European Commission had joined the Walloon government against the citizen plaintiff), it might be appropriate that each of you communicates the information as widely as possible in your own country.

Regards,

Patrice d’Oultremont
Vent de Raison (Wallonia, Belgium)
www.ventderaison.com


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2016/10/31/important-ruling-from-the-european-court-of-justice/