Source: IEU Monitoring

The Austrian Federal Administrative Court (BVwG) must decide whether the water‑law authorisation for the Lobau Tunnel, part of the S 1 Vienna Outer Ring Expressway (Schwechat–Süßenbrunn section), may be granted where the plan that formed the basis for the route alignment was not subjected to a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) or to screening, contrary to the SEA Directive (Article 3). The BVwG has referred several questions to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling and Advocate General Kokott delivers her Opinion on 21 May 2026; the reading is scheduled at the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg and will be livestreamed on the Curia website.

One question asks whether the schedules to the Federal Roads Act (BStG), which broadly define the federal road network of motorways and expressways, constitute a "plan" subject to the SEA Directive. A second question asks whether changes to junctions on the S 1 made after the deadline for transposing the SEA Directive without an SEA or screening fall within the Directive’s transitional provisions exempting initial formal preparatory acts adopted before the end of the transposition period. A third question asks whether any infringement of the Directive would affect only the prior EIA authorisation — which in this case has become final and cannot be annulled — or whether such consequences must also extend to subsequent authorisations under water law and nature‑conservation law, potentially requiring their annulment. The entry reproduces the questions in German, includes an English e‑translation provided for information (the original German version prevails), identifies the case as C‑189/25 Virus II, and notes site copyright statements including "All Content Rights Reserved by Comecon Media GmbH."