Poland told to stop highway-works in protected site 

The standoff over the Via Baltica highway project went up a level on 28 February 2007, when environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas sent a second and final warning to Poland to stop the works.

"We expect an answer in seven days," Dimas told reporters, saying he will "ask for an injunction" from the European Court of Justice "at the end of the seventh day" to stop the works, which began on 22 February.

Poland argues that it is not breaking EU law and Environment Minister Jan Szyszko said that he was ready to go to court over the matter, Reuters reported.

The 670km highway linking Prague to Heksinki via Poland and the Baltic states is seen as an important infrastructural project to improve connections between the EU's Central European states.

But Brussels says that it is concerned about "the damage that will be done to primeval woodland and other natural habitats of European importance if the construction of the Augustow bypass and the Wasilkow bypass goes ahead".

The Commission says that it "supports the upgrading of road infrastructure in Poland". But it says it "does not accept that the irreversible damage that will be caused by the bypasses is either necessary or justified".

The Commission's move was hailed by a coalition of environmental NGOs, including WWF Poland, BirdLife International, the Polish Society for the Protection of Birds, and others. 

"All of the areas in question are protected as Special Protection Areas (SPA) under the Birds Directive and are or should be proposed as Sites of Community Importance (SCI) under the Habitats Directive - Europe's strongest laws for the protection of natural environments," the NGOs said.