Status: 01/17/2022 10:11 a.m
The Federal Administrative Court has stopped dredging work for the German-Danish Fehmarnbelt tunnel on the German side. The judges followed a motion by the action alliance against a fixed link across the Fehmarnbelt.
The judges in Leipzig issued a so-called interim order. The state of Schleswig-Holstein is thus asked to temporarily order a partial freeze on work in the coastal waters off Puttgarden, as the alliance explained in a statement. This involves construction work on the tunnel route, in the vicinity of which there are protected reefs.
Buchholz: “No substantial change in the project”
Economics Minister Bernd Buchholz (FDP) reacted calmly to the court’s decision: “Even if the action alliance were to cause a delay in the construction process – the lawsuit will not result in a substantial change in the project itself or the schedule.” It is clear to the country that there will be no further work in the disputed areas until the Senate makes an urgent decision. A regulation will then be found for the compensation areas for the reefs. On Monday, the two project developers Femern A/S and the Schleswig-Holstein State Office for Road Construction and Transport (LBV.SH) would advise on how to proceed.
Alliance lawyer: “This is a success that should not be underestimated”
The lawyer for the alliance, Wilhelm Mecklenburg, told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”: “This is a surprising success that should not be underestimated”. The action alliance applied on Thursday that the dredging of the tunnel ditch off Fehmarn in the area of protected reefs should be prohibited until the court has decided in about three months on an urgent application made by the alliance against the work. In a decision made on Friday, the court now demands exactly that from the state of Schleswig-Holstein: “It must be ensured that interventions in reef areas, for which a supplementary procedure was to be carried out according to the judgments of the Senate, have not yet begun “.
Reefs are to be destroyed – compensation planned
In September, the Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of Transport permitted the destruction of the protected reefs on the tunnel route, but obliged the Danish client Femern A/S to create new reefs elsewhere in the Baltic Sea off Fehmarn.
Reevaluation of all reefs?
According to Mecklenburg, a reassessment of all reefs in the project area would be necessary, the statement said. The discovery of further reefs in the tunnel area, especially in the deep water area, would then have to be expected. The action group’s lawsuit assumes that a systematic search for reefs, especially in the vicinity of the tunnel route, apparently did not take place. This is evidenced by the three reefs in the route area, which only became known after the planning approval decision was issued in 2019, according to the lawyer.
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