Corner House
Kurdish Human Rights Project
EUROPEAN
COMMISSION TAKEN TO COURT OVER BAKU-CEYHAN PIPELINE
Human
rights groups to take case relating to controversial BP pipeline
Human rights
groups [1] today announced that they have applied to the European
Court of Justice in Luxembourg to take the European Commission
to court over BP's highly controversial Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC)
oil pipeline. The court case dramatically increases the political
risks that the pipeline's financial backers now face.
The application
follows a complaint submitted by Non-governmental Organisations
(NGOs) to the European Commission in July 2003. The complaint
held that the legal agreements underpinning the BTC project break
Turkey's obligations under its EU Accession Partnership, triggering
the Commission's duty to act in relation to EU pre-accession funding
to Turkey.[2]
In response,
the Commission undertook to review the NGO complaint in its annual
report on Turkey's progress towards accession. However, the Commission
has failed to fulfil this pledge. The Corner House and The Kurdish
Human Rights Project, together
with a landowner directly and adversely affected by the project,
have therefore applied to the Court of First Instance of the European
Court of Justice (CFI) to take the Commission to court under Articles
230 and 232 of the European Community Treaty.
"We are
strongly in favour of Turkey joining the European Union, providing
that it meets the obligations laid out in the Copenhagen Criteria",
says Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director of the Kurdish Human Rights
Project. "BP has foisted a poor agreement on Turkey which
potentially blocks Turkey's accession for the next 60 years. It
is important that the European Commission acts to remove this
barrier."
"We have
a strong case and are determined to press it", says Nicholas
Hildyard of The Corner House. "These agreements would be
illegal in the European Union. BP could resolve the issue by allowing
Turkey to remove those elements that conflict with EC law."
A favourable
judgment in the CFI would have profound implications for the project,
which is backed by the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction
and Development. "It is unlikely that the loan agreements
would survive a ruling in our favour", says Nicholas Hildyard.
"The court case dramatically alters the political risk profile
of the project."
"The
European Union made Turkey's accession, and pre-accession funding,
conditional upon Turkey moving towards the European acquis. The
legal structure set up under the pipeline agreements moves Turkey
in the opposite direction", says Philip Moser, the groups'
barrister and an expert in European law [3]. "There should
be judicial review of the Commission's duty in distributing Community
money; in particular if the EU's own guidelines for funding have
been breached."
Notes for
editors
[1] Groups
involved in the court cases include the Kurdish Human Rights Project
and The Corner House.
[2] As part
of its EU Accession Partnership, Turkey is obliged to move towards
the acquis of Community law; instead, the legal agreements for
the pipeline move Turkey away from the acquis, triggering the
Commission's duty to act. Under the agreements, Turkey exempts
the pipeline consortium from all Turkish laws that might affect
the project. Turkey would also be obliged to compensate the consortium
if new laws were introduced that affected the "Economic Equilibrium"
or profitability of the project. Such agreements amount to a clear
potential breach of what would be Turkey's EU law obligations,
namely accepting the supremacy of Community Law.
[3] Philip
Moser, a barrister with the European Law Group at Hailsham Chambers,
4 Paper Buildings, Temple, is a widely acknowledged specialist
in European Law.
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