The Voivodeship Administrative Court (WSA) has dismissed complaints filed by German environmental organizations regarding the environmental decision issued by the General Directorate for Environmental Protection (GDOŚ) for the construction of a container terminal in Świnoujście.
“Even if today the WSA rejects the complaint regarding the construction of the container terminal in Świnoujście, filed by the German group Lebensraum Vorpommern, Germany and Tusk’s government have already scored a ‘success’. The investment will be significantly delayed. There is still no contract with the Qatari-Belgian consortium that was supposed to carry out the project,” wrote Gazeta Polska journalist Tomasz Duklanowski earlier today.
Germany challenged the Polish investment
Previously, on July 21, the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw decided to suspend the execution of the contested environmental decision related to the project titled: “Construction of a Container Terminal in the External Port in Świnoujście.”
This decision was first reported by German media.
It stemmed from a lawsuit filed by the German organization Lebensraum Vorpommern and the municipality of Ostseebad Heringsdorf. The claim alleged that “contamination of the seabed with ammunition in that part of the Baltic Sea had not been adequately investigated” prior to starting the investment. Suspending the environmental decision served as a form of legal security for the complaint.
“One time it’s ecology, another time it’s unexploded ordnance”
The court’s decision to suspend the environmental permit for the Świnoujście container terminal has sparked numerous reactions.
“One time it’s ecology, another time it’s unexploded ordnance – any excuse is good to block Poland’s development. But only a government this weak and controlled from the outside can accept it without a fight,” said Member of the European Parliament Arkadiusz Mularczyk.
Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Arkadiusz Marchewka declared at the time that the Polish side would fight to preserve the project. “The container terminal in Świnoujście is among the priority investments of the Polish government. We will not back down an inch on its construction,” he stated.
The construction of a deepwater container terminal in Świnoujście, in the form of a so-called external port, is one of the largest projects in Poland’s maritime economy. The investor is the Szczecin and Świnoujście Seaports Authority, and the project is coordinated by the Ministry of Infrastructure.
The terminal is scheduled to be completed by 2029. In February this year, the General Directorate for Environmental Protection issued an environmental permit allowing the investment to proceed. At the end of March, it was challenged by the German organization Bürgerinitiative Lebensraum Vorpommern from the island of Usedom. The case documents were forwarded from GDOŚ to the WSA in Warsaw on May 7. Lebensraum Vorpommern also filed a motion to suspend the enforceability of the decision until the complaint is reviewed.