Luxembourg, 07/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - Appeals launched by German and Austrian landowners against the European Commission against certain areas of land being listed as Natura 2000 sites of environmental importance for the EU, have been rejected. The first chamber of the European Court of First Instance ruled that they cannot appeal against the December 2003 decision of the European Commission establishing the list of sites of Community importance for the Alpine biogeographical region because the landowners are not 'directly concerned' by the Commission's decision under the meaning of the EC Treaty.
The European Commission's decision was appealed against in two cases: by Rasso Freiher von Cramer-Klett of Aschau im Chiemgau and Rechtlerverband Pfronten (an association of lawyers from Pfronten) in Germany; and in Austria by Kurt Martin Mayer d'Eisentratten, forestry management company Tilly Forstbetriebe de Treibach, Anton and Johannes Volpini de Maestri living in Spittal/Drau and Seeboden (Austria), two communities listed in the Commission's Natura 2000 decision.
The list of disgruntled landowners does not stop there - Prince Alfred von und zu Liechtenstein, Alexander von Kottwitz-Erdödy and the communities of Götzendorf an der Leitha and Ebergassing are also awaiting the outcome of a case concerning their land. Like the other landowners, they argue that the environmental protection zones reduce the value of their land and the Commission failed to respect what they describe as the necessary balance between the general interest and the rights of citizens, and the Commission did not act correctly because in most of the cases, the limits of the Natura 2000 zones stop at the borders of the relevant 'Land' (region). The European Commission's established the list of natural habitats in line with the 1992 Habitats Directive, foreseeing a network of protected environmental zones called 'Natura 2000'.
The Court of Justice points out in both the Austrian and the German case that under EU law, the landowners can try to have the European Commission's decision annulled by taking their case to a court in their own country.