The Constitutional Court rejected the ecologists fighting against the routing of R52 under Pálava

Brno - The Constitutional Court (ÚS) rejected the complaint of environmentalists from the civic association Nebojsa, which opposes the route of the R52 expressway in the section Pohořelice-Mikulov through the landscape under Pálava. Activists unsuccessfully challenged a statement from 2005 in court, in which the Ministry of the Environment expressed its consent to the controversial route. The Czech News Agency (ČTK) learned this from the database of resolutions of the Constitutional Court.
The statement referred to as EIA was issued by officials according to the Environmental Impact Assessment Act. Both the Municipal Court in Prague and the Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the lawsuit, stating that similar statements from the ministry cannot be challenged in court. The judiciary can review only later official verdicts that have a specific impact. This was also confirmed by the Constitutional Court now.
Environmentalists often challenge EIA documents, although the courts have never admitted any lawsuit. According to the courts, the statements are rather recommendatory in nature. "The purpose and aim of the EIA system is to select a solution that is the most suitable from an ecological point of view," stated the constitutional judges.
It is still not definitively decided which route the planned expressway from Brno to Vienna will take. While the Road and Motorway Directorate and the South Moravian Region advocate the option through Pohořelice and Mikulov, environmentalists and representatives of municipalities under Pálava recommend using the D2 motorway via Břeclav. Construction has not yet begun.
Preparations for the R52 have been accompanied by a series of disputes and lawsuits from the beginning. In the challenged statement, the ministry agreed to develop the option referred to as 1x. According to South Moravian Deputy Governor Anna Procházková (ODS), the 23-kilometer section would cost about ten billion crowns. It could be completed in 2014. Environmentalists argue that the road would violate valuable ecosystems under Pálava and around the Novomlýnské reservoirs.
"The Pálava landscape would find itself caught between two highway bodies after the construction of the R52 road," said Libuše Obrdlíková from the Nebojsa association after filing the lawsuit.
In September, the Czech Republic and Austria were supposed to sign a final agreement on the highway connection between Brno and Vienna, with the key component being the Pohořelice-Mikulov section. However, Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg did not grant full power to Transport Minister Aleš Řebíček, and the prepared signature fell through. Regional politicians criticized this. For example, Deputy Governor Procházková spoke of sabotage and an international faux pas.