Aktuelle Rechtsprechung zum europäischen Wasserrecht journal article Kurt Faßbender Zeitschrift für Europäisches Umwelt- und Planungsrecht, Volume 15 (2017), Issue 2, Page 152 - 166 The following paper presents and analyses current judgements of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and of German administrative courts dealing with the environmental objectives outlined in Article 4 of the Directive 2000/60/EC establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy (Water Framework Directive –WFD). From a European point of view, the most important recent decision is the judgement of May 4, 2016, concerning the authorisation of a hydropower plant on the Schwarze Sulm River in Austria where the CJEU concluded that the construction of such a plant may be an overriding public interest in the meaning of Article 4 (7) of the WFD. According to the Court, in that regard, the Member States must be allowed a certain margin of discretion for determining whether a specific project is of such interest. Furthermore, the Court stated that, contrary to the Commission’s assertions, the Austrian authorities did analyse the contested project as a whole, including its direct and indirect impact on the objectives of Directive 2000/60, and weighed up the advantages of the project with its negative impact on the status of the body of surface water of the Schwarze Sulm. Thus, according to the CJEU all the conditions for a derogation from the objective to prevent deterioration of the status of bodies of surface water were taken into account and were rightly considered to be met.
Ausnahmen und Abweichungen von Zielen der Raumordnung – Effektive Instrumente eines neuen „Deutschlandtempos“? Martin Beckmann
