Last year the government conditioned the construction of the weir at Decin by the designation of compensation measures for the destruction of a natural environment that is included in the network of significant areas Europe-wide, Natura 2000. It is ordered by the European Directive on the protection of Nature 2000 areas and the Czech Nature and Landscape Protection Act. For state money, the government ordered the elaboration of several expert studies that all resolutely rejected any compensation measures and the devastation of the natural environment.

Besides the destruction of the natural environment of the Elbe, minister Ťok proposes, for example, the construction of a weir at Prelouc which would mean the liquidation of what are called the Slavik Islands. In spite of the fact that the government was tasked to include the area in the Natura 2000 network, it has never proceeded and thus continues to violate European legislation.

Minister Ťok clearly ignores all the rules. Moreover, he got an exception from prime minister Babis for the Conception to be excluded from the comments of other ministries. Therefore the Ministry of the Environment lost an opportunity to express its opinion before the government vote.

Now it is the turn of the minister of the environment, Richard Brabec, to explain to the entire government and to minister Ťok why it is not possible to approve the Conception. The approval of the document including the Decin weir would mean big trouble for the Czech Republic.

“If the government violates its own laws they will admit that they are valid only sometimes and only for selected ones. Neither nature protection nor economic interests are recognizably important for the government. The 5-billion-crown investment into the construction of the Decin weir will destroy precious nature values with unlikely returnability,” states Jiří Kaňa from Arnika.