MOF, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Endeligt svar på spørgsmål 785: Spm. om, hvilke kommentarer er indkommet fra øvrige ministre og ministerier udenom den officielle høringsproces, dels til Miljøstyrelsen og departementet vedrørende ny vejledning om spildevand

Miljø- og Fødevareudvalget 2023-24
MOF Alm.del
Offentligt

AKT 455737

[

Mr Virginijus Sinkeviëius Letter from Commissioner Sinkevicius, Environment, Oceans and Fi...

Miljøministeriets Departement ([email protected])

Joachim Clement Munkstrup ([email protected]), Bryssel EU, Arkiv ([email protected]), [email protected]

([email protected]), [email protected] ([email protected])

Julie Richter ([email protected])

Fra:

Titel: Letter from Commissioner Sinkevicius

Sendt: 10-08-2023 16:04

Bilag: DK transmission letter.pdf; 7674714- AR- Reply to Magnus Heunicke.pdf;

Til:

Cc:

Att: Miljøministeren forkontor

hermed vedhæftes en skrivelse til miljøministeren fra kommissær Virginijus Sinkeviius.

Med venlig hilsen

JULIE RICHTER

1ULRIC@i1Ü4.DK

DIREKTE +32 2 233 08 59

MOBIL +32 478 60 24 66

DANMARKS FASTE REPRÆSENTATION VED DEN EUROPÆISKE UNION

73, RUE D’ARLON

B-1040 BRUXELLES

TLF. +32 2 233 08 11

ELLUMDK

LJF5°

SÅDAN BEHANDLER VI PERSONOPLYSNINGER

Please consider the environment before printing this message

Fra:

Sendt: 10 August 2023 15:19

Til: Bryssel EU <[email protected]>

Emne: Letter from Commissioner Sin kevicius

[CAUTION EXTERNAL EMAIL] This email was sent from outside the MFA organisation. DO NOT reply, dick on

links, or open attachments unless you have verified the sender and know the content is safe.

Your Excellency,

Please find attached a letter from Commissioner Virginijus Sinkeviius, EU Commissioner for Environment, Oceans

and Fisheries, for your attention and its annex for further transmission.

With kindest regards,

sisf in the Cabinet of Commissioner Sinkevicius

European Commission

Cabinet Commissioner Sinkevicius

BERL 08/2 10

Rue de la loi 200

1040 Brussels Belgium

MOF, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Endeligt svar på spørgsmål 785: Spm. om, hvilke kommentarer er indkommet fra øvrige ministre og ministerier udenom den officielle høringsproces, dels til Miljøstyrelsen og departementet vedrørende ny vejledning om spildevand

AKT 455737

[Mr Virginijus Sinkeviöius Letter from Commissioner Sinkevicius, Environment, Oceans and Fi...

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Cabinet of Commissioner Virginijus Sinkeviöius

Head of Cabinet

Brussels, 10/08/2023

Ref Ares (2023) 7674714

HE Mr Søren Jacobsen

Ambassador

Deputy Permanent Representative of

Denmark to the European Union

Rue d’Arlon 73

1040 Brussels

Your Excellency,

Please find attached a letter from Mr Virginijus Sinkeviius, EU Commissioner for

Environment, Oceans and Fisheries.

I would be grateful ifyou could ask your services to transmit the attached letter from

Commissioner Virginijus Sinkeviëius to H.E. Mr Magnus Heunicke, Minister of

Environment of Denmark.

Your sincerely,

Carmen Preising

Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGE Tel. +32 22991111

Office: BERL 08/188 Tel. direct line +32 229-55511

AKT 455737

[Mr Virginijus Sinkeviëius

Letter from Commissioner Sinkevicius, Environment, Oceans and Fi...

European

Commission

VIRGINI.Jus SINKEvIIus

Commissioner

for Environment

Oceans and Fisheries

Brussels, 10/08/2023

Ref Ares (2023) 7674714

Mr Magnus Heunicke

Minister of Environrnent of Denmark

Frederiksholms Kanal 26

1220 København K

DENMARK

Dear Minister,

I would like to thank you for your letter of 30 June 2023 concerning the Water Framework

Directive following our meeting of 27 June 2023. In your letter, you ask for assistance on the

interpretation of the Water Framework Directive’ (WFD), notably in relation to a recent

ruling from the Danish Environment and Food Board of Appeal which you report will have

major consequences for some projects related to the transition to green energy. I understand

that, since the ruling deviates from the guidance of the Danish Environmental Protection

Agency, this leads to legal uncertainty and suspension of

permitting

procedures.

Acknowledging the urgency of your request, I hereby attach the views of my services on this

complex issue, while noting that only the EU Court of Justice can give an authentic

interpretation of Union law.

I hope that your authorities will find them helpful.

Yours faithfully,

Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a

framework for Community action in the field of water policy, OJ L 327, 22.12.2000, p. I

ANNEX

Question 1:

“When the EQSfor a substance has already been exceeded and the water body

has thus been classfied in the lowest class.

o Does any addition of a given substance to a water body constitute deterioration

(regardless of the amount/concentration) or

o Will

only constitute deterioration contrary to Articie 4

the discharge will lead to

an increase in the concentration ola given substance in the water body”?

According to Articie 2(3 5) of the

WFD,

‘environmental

quality

standards’ (EQS) mean “the

concentration

of a particular pollutant or group of pollutants in water, sediment or biota

which should flot be exceeded in order to protect human health and the environment.” EQS

exceedances are therefore always to be measured based on the

concentration

of that

substance in the water body in question. Therefore, where the measured concentration of a

given substance already exceeds the relevant EQS, additional discharges of that substance to a

water body would lead to a deterioration in breach of Articie 4 of the

WFD

if they would

lead to a further increase in concentration of that substance in that water body.

Question 2: “In order to establish an increase in concentration

is it a requirement that

must be measurable/detectable? Iii most situations, it will be possible to caiculate even

negligible additions does that constitute an increase and therefore a deterioration?”

Under Directive 2008/105/EC2 (EQSD), EQS are set, for each listed substance, as both

maximum allowable concentration which can never be exceeded at any point in time, and as

thresholds of allowable concentrations averaged over one year (see Annex I, part A).

This means that, in order to assess over time whether the status of a water body has

deteriorated, it is necessary flot only to carry out regular sampling activities to check whether

the maximum allowable concentrations are exceeded at any point in time, but also to assess

whether the measured concentration values, averaged over one year, exceed the threshold of

allowable annual averages (see Annex V, point 1.3

WFD

and Articie 3 EQSD).

This also means that, in order to prevent possible deterioration of the chemical status of a

water body, e.g., in relation to new projects, it is necessary to estimate the expected increase

in concentration resulting from their implementation. Tt is clear from recent jurisprudence of

the EU Court of Justice3 that, “where, in the context of the authorisation procedure for a

programme or project, the competent national authorities determine that it is likely to cause

such deterioration, that programme or project may, even if that deterioration is of a

temporary nature, be authorised only if the conditions laid down in Article 4(7,) of that

Directive arefulfihled”.

The conditions laid out by

Articie 4(7) WFD

need to be cumulatively fulfilled and are as

follows:

(a) ali practicabie steps are taken to mitigate the negative impact of the project on the

status of the relevant water body;

Directive 2008/1 05/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on

environmental

quality standards in the field ofwaterpolicy, OJ L 348, 24.12.2008, p. 84

Case C-525/20 ‘Association France Nature Environnement contre Premier ministre, Ministre de la Transition

écologique et solidaire’, conelusions

(b) the reasons for the proj eet have been specifically set out and explained in the river

basin management plans (RBMPs) which Member States have to adopt and

subsequently report to the Commission every six years;

benefits to human health, maintenance of human safety or sustainable development

outweigh the benefits ofreaching good water status; and

(d) the objective pursued by the proj eet cannot be achieved through alternative

measures which would be a significantly better environmental option, for reasons of

technical feasibility or disproportionate cost.

As set out in

CIS

Guidance n° 36, for an Articie 4(7) exemption to be applicable, the

deterioration needs to result from activities falling within the scope of Articie 4(7), i.e. new

modifications to the physical characteristics of a surface water body, alterations to the level of

groundwater aridlor new sustainable human development activities. If a proj eet does flot fall

within the scope of Article 4(7) (e.g. because it cannot be considered as a new human

sustainable development aetivity), it cannot be allowed if it is expected to result in breaches to

the EQS Such proj ects can only be allowed if further deterioration of the chemical status can

be prevented, amongst others through mitigation measures which may include nature based

solutions.

Finally, it is of utmost importance to secure, in line with Artiele 4(8) WFD, that the longer

term objective of achieving good water status is flot permanently exeluded or compromised in

other water bodies within the same river basin district and that consistency is ensured with

other EU environmental law.

Question

3: “At what scale shall the assessment be conducted at? (water body leve! or other

units?) Is there a distinction between surface water and bodies ofground water?”

Under the WFD, the obligation to achieve good status and avoid deterioration is set

level of the water body and thus any assessment should be made at the level of the

body. However, it is necessary to take account of the obligation set out in Articie 4(8)

and avoid compromising the achievement of good status in (downstream) water bodies

wider river basin district.

The Directive takes this approach for both groundwater and surface water bodies.

at the

water

WFD

in the

“Sec in particular pages 30

and

52 ofGuidance n° 36 established in the framework of the Common

Implementation Strategy

Miljøministeriet

Aktdetaljer

Akttitel: Re: urgent matter before mr Sinkeviius meeting with the

Danish minister 27.6

Aktnummer: 43

Akt ID:

Dato:

Type:

Dokumenter:

442851

26-06-2023 13:31:33

Indgående

[1] Re urgent matter before mr Sinkeviius meeting with the Danish minister 27.6eml

[2] imageool.gif

Den 21. maj 2024

AKT 442851

[

Re:

urgent matter before mr Sinkeviöius meeting with the Danish minister 27.6]

Dokument

Til:

Cc:

Fra:

Titel:

Sendt:

Bilag:

Rikke Slot Benyahia ([email protected])

Lene Carpentier ([email protected]), Cecilie Spanner Rydg(cespamim.dk)

Re: urgent matterb

26-06-2023 13:31

image0Ol.gif;

re mr Sinkeviius meeting with the Danish minister 27.6

Dear Rikke,

This is just to quickly confirm that commissioner is aware of this topic and will be ready to address it

tomorrow during the meeting with the minister.

Best,

Dovile Sandaraite

On 26 Jun 2023, at 11:21, SANDARAITE Dovile (CAB-SINKEVICIUS)

<[email protected]> wrote:

Dear Rikke,

Many thanks for your e-mail.

I forwarded your e-mail to H0C Carmen Preising.

Best,

Media and Communications Adviser

Cabinet of Virginijus Sinkeviius

Environment, Oceans and Fisheries

<image0ol .gif’

European Commission

BERL

—

Rue de la Lol 200

Office 08/1 53

1000 Brussels,

Belgium

Tel: +32 4986 90140

Twitter:

Linkedin:

Please corisider the environment before deciding to print this e-mail.

From: Rikke Slot Benyahia <[email protected]>

Sent: Monday, June 26, 2023 11:15 AM

To:

Cc: Lene Carpentier <[email protected]>, Cecilie Spanner Rydeng <[email protected]>

Subject: urgent matter before mr Sinkeviius meeting with the Danish minister 27.6

lmportance: High

-‘

Dear

I just tried to call you regarding an urgent matter before the Commissioners meeting tomorrow with

our minister. There is an issue that Mr. Sinkeviius needs to know about. Our deputy permanent

secretary Mr. Peter Østergaard Have have tried to reach mrs. Carmen Preising several times this

morning. Can you confirm that this is the right number to reach her: +32 2 29 86983?

The issue:

We have had a constructive dialogue with the Commission and we have sent a letter to DG ENVI dated

16 May 2023 with some questions related to the interpretation of the Water Framework Directive.

new ruling from our Environment and Food Board of Appeal in Denmark has major consequences for

a number of activities leading to a discharge of hazardous substances to water bodies.

Due to uncertainty of the legal interpretation, environmental authorities have put new permits and

permit revisions on hold. This means that actually, at the moment

no permissions are given

regarding

for instance Power-to-X, power plants and other projects regarding transition to green energy etc. And

furthermore our

critical infrastructure

is also affected by this ruling.

As mentioned we have had some very constructive discussions with Claudia Olazabal from the

Commission who orally has confirmed that the Commission’s understanding of the concept

deterioration in the Water Framework Directive is in accordance with the Danish interpretation.

Since projects of crucial activities such as critical infrastructure and new sustainable developments are

no longer possible asa consequence of the ruling by the above-mentioned Board of Appeal, a quick

response to our written questions will be highly appreciated.

Therefore it is of great importance for us that Mr. Sinkeviius is aware of these issues before meeting

our Minister. We really need an answer to solve the critical situation and it would be very valuable for

us if the Commissioner could help speeding up the process.

If Carmen Preising is not reachable can you please call me back so that we can discuss how to make sure

that the Commissioner is aware of this issue before tomorrow?

Thank you very much.

Best regads

Venlig hilsen

Rikke Slot Benyahia

Chefkonsulent

Bæredygtigt Miljø og Produktion

+45 21 82 28 811 [email protected]

Miljøministeriet

Facebook

Iwitter

bstagram

Unkedin

Ynulube

Pratlivspoliflk

Departementet

Vester Voldgade 123 11552 København

VI Tlf. +4538 1421 42

[email protected]

twmimdk

AKT 442851

[Re: urgent matter before mr Sinkeviëius meeting with the Danish minister 27.6]

Dokument 2

[imageOOl

]

Miljøministeriet

Aktdetaljer

Akttitel: RE: urgent matter before mr Sinkeviius meeting with the

Danish minister 27.6

Aktnummer: 44

Akt ID:

Dato:

Type:

Dokumenter:

442852

26-06-2023 11:22:16

Indgående

[1] RE urgent matter before mr Sinkeviëius meeting with the Danish minister 27.6.eml

Den 21. maj 2024

AKT 442852

[RE: urgent mafter before mr Sinkeviius meeting with the Danish minister 27.6]

Dokument

...

Til:

Cc:

Fra:

Titel:

Sendt:

Rikke Slot Benyahia ([email protected])

Lene Carpentier ([email protected]), Cecilie Spanner Rydeng ([email protected])

_._-_)

RE: urgent matter before mr Sinkeviäius meeting with the Danish minister 27.6

26-06-2023 11:21

Dear Rikke,

Many thanks for your e-mail.

I forwarded your e-mail to HoC Carmen Preising.

Best,

Media and Communications Adviser

Cabinet of Virginijus Sinkeviius

Environment, Oceans and Fisheries

European Commission

BERL— Rue de la Lol 200

Office 08/1 53

1000 Brussels,

Belgium

Tel: ÷32 4986 90140

Twitter:

—-1__

Linkedin._-

Please consider the environment before deciding to print this e-mail.

From: Rikke Slot Benyahia <[email protected]>

Sent: Monday, June 26, 2023 11:15 AM

10:

Cc: Lene Carpentier <[email protected]>; Cecilie Spanner Rydeng <[email protected]>

Subject: urgent matter before mr Sinkeviius meeting with the Danish minister 27.6

Importance: High

Dear

I just tried to call you regarding an urgent matter before the Commissioners meeting tomorrow with our minister.

There is an issue that Mr. Sinkeviius needs to know about. Our deputy permanent secretary Mr. Peter Østergaard

Have have tried to reach mrs. Carmen Preising several times this morning. Can you confirm that this is the right

number to reach her: +32 2 29 86983?

The issue:

We have had a constructive dialogue with the Commission and we have sent a letter to DG ENVI dated 16 May 2023

with some questions related to the interpretation of the Water Framework Directive.

A new ruling from our Environment and Food Board of Appeal in Denmark has major consequences for a number of

activities leading to a discharge of hazardous substances to water bodies.

Due to uncertainty of the legal interpretation, environmental authorities have put new permits and permit revisions

on hold. This means that actually, at the moment

no permissions are given

regarding for instance Power-to-X, power

plants and other projects regarding transition to green energy etc. And furthermore our

critical infrastructure

is also

affected bythis ruling.

Phone: +32 22952977

Rrjgjttp.SKARPAI F7flS(äer.eLIrnna.eu

As mentioned we have had some very constructive discussions with Claudia Olazabal from the Commission who

orally has confirmed that the Commission’s understanding of the concept deterioration in the Water Framework

Directive is in accordance with the Danish interpretation.

Since projects of crucial activities such as critical infrastructure and new sustainable developments are no longer

possible as a consequence of the ruling by the above-mentioned Board of Appeal, a quick response to our written

questions will be highly appreciated.

Therefore it is of great importance for us that Mr. Sinkeviius is aware of these issues before meeting our Minister.

We really need an answer to solve the critical situation and it would be very valuable for us if the Commissioner

could help speeding up the process.

If Carmen Preising is not reachable can you please call me back so that we can discuss how to make sure that the

Commissioner is aware of this issue before tomorrow?

Thank you very much.

Best regads

Venlig hilsen

Rikke Slot Benyahia

Chefkonsulent

Bæredygtigt Miljø og Produktion

+45 21 82 28 811 risIb@mimdk

Miljøministeriet

Departementet

Vester Voldgade 123 11552 København VI Tlf. +4538 1421 42

mim@mimdk

www.mimdk

Eacehook

Twiiter

Instagram

Unkedin

Youluba

Privatilvspolitik