(June 25, 1992) "Burgerinspraak over de Grens" (Civil Participation across Borders), a Dutch group which has been fighting the German nuclear reactor at Lingen (near the Dutch border) for the last ten years through the courts, is facing what is possibly its last chance to stop the reactor.
(374/5.3673) WISE Amsterdam - In March 1992 an administrative court in Lüneburg (FRG) came to the same decision as a lower court at Osnabruck: the reactor's construction license does not have to be cancelled (which is what the Dutch group is demanding). The court also decided that there was no possibility for an objection against its verdict to be made at the highest administrative court in Berlin. The group decided to ignore that decision and lodged an objection in Berlin anyway. If the court in Berlin agrees with the Lüneburg decision that no further objection is possible, this will mean the end of the fight against Lingen through the courts. The verdict is expected in a half year.
The group has already had some effect on the German judicial system, however. In 1986 the group won a court case against the refusal of the German government to give legal status to foreign participation and objections. Coen Hamers, a member of the Dutch group, is so far the only individual with a judicial case against a German nuclear reactor and making use of that decision.
Source and contact: Burgerinspraak over de Grens, Sparstraat 43, 7572 TN Oldenzaal, TheNetherlands; tel: +31 5410-15013.