Reading through the Council of the EU's negotiating position on speeding up environmental assessments, I can't help but laugh that member states want the power to set up "more than one single point of contact". EU simplification drive in full swing 😀
![It is in those circumstances that the High Court (Ireland) decided to stay the proceedings and to refer the following questions to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling:
‘(1) Does Article 11 of [the EIA Directive] read in the light of the principle of wide access to justice under Article 9(2) of the Aarhus Convention have the effect that, in a case where a project within the meaning of Article 1(2)(a) of [that directive] the subject of an application for development consent (the “primary consent”) cannot be carried out without the developer having first obtained another permission (the “secondary consent”), and where the authority competent for granting the primary consent for such a project retains the ability to assess the project's environmental impact more strictly than was done in the secondary consent, such a secondary consent (if granted prior to the primary consent) is to be treated as forming part of the development consent procedure for purposes other than in relation to the scope of matters to be considered or assessed under [the EIA Directive], either generally or where the secondary consent is a decision adopted under Article 16(1) of [the Habitats Directive] and which authorises a developer to derogate from the applicable species protection measures in order to carry out the project?](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ze5ip5mbbyo2okqn3wifl3sk/bafkreiayesfd7e5wpyqeu6dx5btdunfykjb7gzb2lkaivni6wstrys54vi)
