Collision in the Rospuda Valley
Poland: Nature and Traffic in Conflict
Helen Byron, Małgorzata Górska
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The construction of the Via Baltica, which links Warsaw and Helsinki, is controversial in Poland. Environmentalists are protesting the government’s plans to run the Via Baltica through several nature reserves. Noise and pollution from the ensuing traffic would inflict enormous damage on animals, plants and natural habitats. The dispute over the course of the Via Baltica is a precedence case. It will show whether traffic and environmental policy interests can be reconciled, and whether the EU is strong enough to assert environmental law in the face of polish government resistance.
(Osteuropa 4-5/2008, pp. 359–372)