The expansion of Europe’s transportation network has exacerbated the conflict between the need for development and the need for environmental conservation. One clear example of this tension lies in the debate over Poland’s proposed E67 highway bypass. This bypass would extend through the EU-protected Rospuda valley in northeastern Poland, which is home to lynx, wolves, and over 20 species of rare birds. Since the valley is on the EU’s Natura 2000 list of endangered habitats, which aspires to maintain biodiversity in fragile ecosystems, the European Union has fined Poland and forced the country to halt construction at a preliminary stage. This confrontation demonstrates the EU’s growing concern for the protection of nature. However, it also demonstrates that EU policy toward its member states often overemphasizes the conservation of small regions, thereby neglecting major sources of environmental damage.

The EU has designated Rospuda Valley as a Special Protection Area (SPA), which places the site on the Natura 2000 index of endangered habitats. However, the positive environmental impact of this label is questionable. According to the EU Environmental Commission, the hope is that drawing attention to these areas will lead to biodiversity and increased economic and social benefits from tourism. But unlike the land in national parks, the land in SPAs can still be utilized for commercial, residential, and even industrial projects—thereby contributing to the decline of the environment and correspondingly, of tourism. As a further concern, SPAs may not even be protecting the right ecosystems. A 2004 study in the Journal of Global Ecology and Biogeography has shown that the geographic distribution of SPAs often has weak correlations with hotspots of biodiversity. In spite of these inadequacies, Natura 2000 remains the cornerstone of the EU’s environmental protection initiatives.

Natura 2000 can be used to inhibit transportation development in Poland and elsewhere in the EU. In 2005, Poland’s congested roads sustained over 50.9 billion ton-kilometers of internationally-bound cargo, which was the fourth largest amount in Europe. The Polish environmental minister, Jan Szyszko, had initially ratified the Rospuda project in hopes of alleviating congestion and developing international cargo trade. Instead, the project was sent to the European Court of Justice. The suspension of work on route E67 is detrimental for both Poland and the EU because the road is a major conduit of cargo traffic from Russia, Finland, and the Baltic states. Currently, such traffic must weave through major cities and ancient town squares. The Rospuda bypass would have alleviated much of the congestion encountered in the current situation, leading to greater efficiency and a decrease in the particulate pollution caused by transportation delays.

By only designating certain areas as ecologically significant through Natura 2000, the EU may be neglecting issues of environmental protection that are actually within its jurisdiction. Countries are capable of establishing parks and reservations themselves, but they could benefit from help in more far-reaching reforms. Instead of selectively altering the development of roads through particular areas, whether in Poland, the Czech Republic, or any region in which development has been affected, the EU could align its goals for expansion and environmental protection by supporting long-term projects. Reduction of dependence on environmentally destructive technologies is difficult for individual nations to achieve on their own, and the EU could help with added research and funding. Indeed, much of the perceived reduction of pollution in Europe is illusory: a large proportion of pollution has merely been moved to China, as in the case of the German steel industry. The Ruhr valley’s coal-powered metallurgical industry is being disassembled, to the benefit of local ecosystems, only to become reassembled in Chinese cities like Handan where pollution is even worse.

If the EU wants to protect its environments and ecosystems, and those of the world, it must do so by not exporting its problems—whether away from SPAs or internationally to China—but by solving them internally. Implementing cleaner technologies in the massively polluting metallurgical industry and increasing the effectiveness of the largely ineffective carbon-trading scheme (whose pollution caps have been shown by consulting groups to be too generous to promote significant reductions) are two areas in which the EU can make great contributions. By creating economic incentives to restore and protect environments instead of relying on legal threats to punish offenders, more holistic and positive change can be made.