Secular Café: German-Dutch border dispute

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German-Dutch border dispute Jul 12th 2012, 09:28 http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-843419.html Quote: When the Riffgat offshore windfarm is finally finished, it will include 30 gigantic wind turbines jutting above the waves of the North Sea. The columns to be driven into the sea floor are fully 70 meters (230 feet) long and the first of them have already descended to the sea floor. Construction has already gotten underway. And yet, despite the building activitiy, nobody quite knows if the project site is part of Germany or part of the Netherlands. The wind park is located some 14 kilometers (nine miles) from the German island of Borkum and 25 kilometers from the Dutch island of Schiermonnikoog. Somewhere in between is the border. Where exactly it runs, however, has been a matter of some dispute. The mouth of the Ems River is one of the last places in Europe without a clearly defined border. Germany claims it is far to the west; Holland says it lies more to the east. And German energy supplier EWE is building the Riffgat windfarm right in the heart of this contentious area -- and has been dragged into a bizarre diplomatic conflict. It is a centuries-old disagreement, dating back to the 15th century. Only in 1960 did the two sides conclude the Ems-Dollart Treaty in which they vaguely agreed to work together "in the spirit of neighborliness." But the agreement is only valid for an area three sea miles from the coast. Between three and 12 sea miles, where international waters begin, there are no rules. But that's exactly where the wind park is supposed to be located. "We are building on German sovereign territory," said Christian Bartsch, the spokesman for EWE. "The Federal Republic signed a lease with us and approved the construction." The state of Lower Saxony put together a land use plan, which included the offshore wind park. The Enova group bought into the project in 2000 and EWE joined in 2004 and now owns 90 percent of the Riffgat consortium. Authorities approved the construction plans in September 2010. Uwe Rottmann, director of the commercial supervisory office in Oldenburg, near the North Sea coast, said: "In our view, Riffgat belongs to Germany, therefore we were able to issue the construction permit." But the Dutch disagree. Officials there say that 40 percent of the windpark is in territory belonging to the Netherlands. A Dutch permit is also required, officials there say.

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