This investigation explores how the notion of public interest is stretched to fit private industrial interests in derogation of the European nature protection law, threatening the biodiversity of protected areas, specifically in Southern Italy.
In 2022, Porsche submitted an expansion plan for its test track in Southern Italy, the Nardò Technical Centre. The project involved clearing 200 hectares of forest and destroying Natura 2000 habitats in one of the last remaining forests in a region most affected by desertification in the Mediterranean.
To overcome this legal barrier, local authorities declared that the project had Imperative Reasons of Overriding Public Interest (IROPI), planning to construct a heliport and a sanitary station to "help strengthen the region's sanitary infrastructure and fight fire crisis". This seemed promising at first glance, as the EU Habitats Directive specifies "human health" and "public safety" as important motives of public interest.
However, after the European Commission requested a revision due to insufficient implementation of nature conservation measures, local authorities suspended the IROPI in 2024. Nevertheless, legal experts argue that the Commission is still not severe enough and tends to favour "imperative reasons of public interest" over nature conservation.
Although Porsche abandoned the investment plan a year ago, the closure agreement has been signed and suspended, but never cancelled. On paper, the company would have ten years to complete the runway. A citizens' committee, which opposed the expansion of the test track from the very beginning, continues to protect the forest.
Photo by Vittoria Torsello: Sheep belonging to a livestock farmer working inside the Nardò Technical Center testing track.
