Planned construction of an LNG terminal off the island of Rügen and elsewhere in the Baltic

1.3.2023

Priority question for written answer  P-000696/2023
to the Commission
Rule 138
Helmut Scholz (The Left)

According to the Federal Network Agency’s most recent status report, dated 22 February 2023, gas supply in Germany is stable and there is currently security of supply. The German Federal Government is nonetheless pressing ahead with building LNG terminals off the island of Rügen and elsewhere. The district chief executive and the local population are opposed to that.

• 1.When was the Commission informed of the reasons for granting the exemption from carrying out an environmental impact assessment for the construction of the LNG terminal off the island of Rügen, and what is its assessment of those grounds in the light of various scientific analyses that find it unnecessary to expand LNG terminals?
• 2.To what extent is Directive 2011/92/EU[1](in particular Article 1(4)) applicable to the fast-tracking act adopted by German Federal Government, i.e. to what extent can the construction of LNG terminals on the basis of the fast-tracking act be exempted from the environmental impact assessment required by the directive?
• 3.To what extent does the Commission think there should be a joint cross-border environmental impact assessment, to be carried out under EU law, in order to determine possible environmental impacts for the Polish section of the Baltic, and what does the Commission know about German Federal Government investigations into what the effects on the environment and the tourism industry will be, in both Poland and Germany, once all LNG terminals have been set up on the German Baltic Sea coast?

Submitted: 1.3.2023

• [1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/de/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32011L0092