The environmental rollback and discrediting of sustainable policies as a “luxury” in times of crisis continues and spreads in the EU. This issue of CrisisWatch highlights alarming cases from Spain, the United Kingdom, Greece and Portugal....

Greece: A 5 combo tourist resort of 216 beds, located in a protected zone of the Natura 2000 site of the cycladic Milos Island (SCI), is proceeding at super-fast speed with the necessary environmental approval procedures, despite its incompatibility with the sectoral spatial plan for tourism.  The construction site hosts the most significant habitat for the local endemic and 92/43/EEC priority reptilian species Macrovipera schweizeri (previousl...

The famous beach of “Es Trenc”, a beach of more than four kilometers in the south coast of Mallorca, is endangered by an immense development project promoted as a response to the crisis by the local government of the Balearic Islands. Praised as an important project of "regional interest", the construction of a huge hotel complex, including a giant enclave of 1,200 beds, plus a golf course and multi-sports areas, is planned at the pristine pa...

According to a draft law submitted to the Madrid Assembly by the Council for Environment and Land Planning, housing development will be allowed even within the boundaries of protected areas, such as regional parks. Introducing as only criterion the ownership of 10 hectares of land and establishing the procedures of “sustainable rural qualification”, the “city license” and the “special plan”, the President of the Council claims that th...

The Government is drafting legislation that will introduce serious cuts in the existing framework of incentives for renewables. According to environmental groups and the renewables industry, this move would jeopardise efforts to reach the national 2020 clean energy targets. ...

Due to lack of financial means, as a result of the fiscal crisis and the austerity policies, Portugal’s Environment and Land Planning Minister Pedro Afonso de Paulo stated that the country may be unable to pay for protection of the coastline from the impacts of erosion and rising sea levels. ...

The strong framework of incentives for the purchase of electric cars that gave Portugal a leading position in the promotion of climate friendly new technologies has not been effective in boosting demand. The economic recession results in reduced car sales has hit hard the electric car market....

Volvo Car Corporation warned that the European Union’s policies and particularly the White Paper on Transport, which commits to  reduced CO2 emissions by at least 60% by 2050, are undermined by the absence of incentives for the promotion of electric cars. ...

United Kingdom: In his speech on the Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer focused on Britain’s debt, at the expense of the environment and the country’s prospects for green economic development....

The draft State Budget that was recently submitted to the Parliament by the Government has received strong criticism by the Friends of the Earth, Ecologists in Action, Greenpeace, SEO / Birdlife and WWF. The NGOs state that little weight is given to environmental protection in the expenditure forecasts for 2012.  The areas of environmental policy included in the Budget envisaged suffer cuts of 21% - from €2,258 million in 2011 to €1,789 mil...