EU delays court action over Polish road link

(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission has delayed court action against Poland to stop it building a road through a fragile ecosystem after Warsaw ordered a temporary halt, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Poland has said it would halt roadworks until July, the end of the nesting period for a number of rare bird species in the northeast of the country, said EU environmental affairs spokeswoman Barbara Helfferich.

The planned stretch of highway is part of the so-called Via Baltica corridor, a major roadlink opening the way to increased trade between the Baltic states and the rest of the European Union.

To ease traffic near the town of Augustow, Polish transport authorities are building a bypass road through the Rospuda River valley, considered by the European Union to be "a unique wetland system."

In December, as trees there were being cut down, the EU's executive arm launched legal action to stop the works but Warsaw ignored the warning and told contractors to go ahead with building last month.

Brussels then announced on March 21 that it would seek an injunction aimed at saving the fragile area at the European Court of Justice, the EU's top tribunal.

But given Poland's roadwork freeze, Helfferich said the Commission had now decided not to take court action, although it remained ready to do so should work resume in July.

Poland has been earmarked EU funds in the 2007-2013 budget for the Via Baltica project, although none have yet been allocated. Warsaw has said it will use its own money to pay for the Rospuda River bypass.