V a t t e n f a l l - Sweden´s other face

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On June 15th, 2000, the Brandenburg State Constitutional Court grants the Grießen suit, declaring the second Brown-Coal Plan for the Jänschwalde to be unconstitutional and therefore null and void. The Constitutional Court rules that the democratic legitimization of the Brown Coal Committee is inadequate. This is the second time that a State Government decree concerning the Jänschwalde mine has been thrown out by the Constitutional Court. The Government is currently (September 2001) still working on a third plan.
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In July 2000,a Horno citizen files suit at the Administration Court in Cottbus against a decision of the state Oberbergamt, which allowed LAUBAG to take possession of his woodland on the Horno Hill.
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In August 2000, the Administration Court in Cottbus grants the same Horno citizen an interim injunction stopping the clearing of trees on his woodland. The Court rules that the expropriation of his woodland was unlawful, because an environmental impact assessment of the Jänschwalde mining project had not been conducted as required by European law. Following this decision mining equipment on Horno Hill grinds to a halt. As a reaction against this court decision, the mining trade union IGBCE organizes a round-the-clock protest demonstration at the foot of the Horno Hill, with the aim of gathering political support and thus exerting pressure on the Appeal Court judges. Amongst prominent visitors to the "camp" is the Federal Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, who, ignoring the people of Horno – and although a legal case is in process – pledges his support for the miners and calls upon the Appeal Court to come to a swift decision. Trade Union interests are more important to the Federal Chancellor than the rule of law!
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In September 2000, the Brandenburg Administration Court of Appeal (Oberverwaltungsgericht) grants the appeal filed by LAUBAG against the interim injunction granted by the Cottbus Court. Mining operations commence once again on Horno Hill. The woodland owner immediately files an appeal against this judgement with the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) in Karlsruhe. This appeal is still pending as at September 2001. The initial case before the Administration Court in Cottbus has also yet to be heard.
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In a Declaration initiated by the Sorb writer Jurij Koch and published in December 2000, fifty renowned German/Sorb writers, artists and journalists, among them Nobel Prize-winner Günter Grass, Christa Wolf, Volker Braun, Jurij Brezan, Stefan Heym, Daniela Dahn, Christoph Hein, Günter Gaus, Klaus Staeck and Franz Alt, called for the Sorb village of Horno to be saved. [LINK]
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On December 17th, 2000, the Appeal Court (Oberverwaltungsgericht) in Frankfurt/Oder refuses to grant the Horno plaintiffs leave to appeal against the decision of the Administration Court in Cottbus from mid-December 1998.
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Towards the end of the year 2000 the LAUBAG mining company and the VEAG power company are sold to the Hamburgerische Electrictricitätswerke (HEW), which, in turn, is majority-owned (71.3%) by the Swedish state-owned VATTENFALL AB.
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