Eva Lichtenberger, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – (DE) Madam President, Commissioner, I am very grateful for the information you have given. I consider what you have said to be very important. I have just one supplementary question. You said that the Commission is entirely satisfied with the way that Austria is now implementing environmental impact assessments. However, there still remains a ruling by the European Court of Justice stating that citizens must be involved in the procedure for establishing whether an EIA is required. This has not been incorporated into the revised Austrian act and it could act as a kind of early warning system to ensure that what we saw in Mellau cannot happen again.

I would like to emphasise once more that I think it somewhat absurd if ski runs are not included in the size of a ski area just because the entire mountain has not been dug up. As I see it, those are ultimately the areas concerned and they must be included. It is quite clear that this is a case in which a project was subdivided into smaller parts for the purposes of circumvention. I hope that you will bear this case in mind in future proceedings.