Sánchez used the warnings from Brussels to put pressure on the Andalusian government and demand the withdrawal of the legal reform, accusing Juan Manuel Moreno of being “arrogant”.
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez and the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo intensify their electoral duel with Doñana in the background in the run-up to the elections on May 28. Both traveled to Huelva this Thursday, where they displayed their argument shortly after the European Union Commissioner for the Environment once again gave a severe warning, in the form of a parliamentary response, about the bill that PP and Vox are processing to expand the irrigated hectares in the surroundings of the Natural Park. The biosphere reserve, declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco, is experiencing a “critical” and “dramatic” moment, scientists warn, due to the drought.
A few kilometers from Huelva, in the Congress of Deputies in Madrid, the votes of the PSOE and PP came together to carry out the reform of the yes is yes law. Far from being a reason for meeting, both leaders raised the tone in their exchange of accusations for Doñana. A matter where the bridges are totally broken and that, despite the calls for consensus and dialogue, there has been no communication between the Government and the Junta de Andalucía since the bill began its journey urgently in the autonomous Chamber.
Sánchez used the warnings from Brussels to put pressure on the Andalusian government and demand the withdrawal of the legal reform, accusing Juan Manuel Moreno of erring “arrogance & rdquor; by its absolute majority and making it clear that no four-year government, no matter how much absolute majority it has, is entitled to “put a heritage of centuries at a point of no return & rdquor ;.
Strawberry Makers Award
Feijóo not only promised farmers water and declared an emergency on all pending water works in the province of Huelva if it reaches Moncloa. He also got the more autonomous discourse of the PP covering Moreno without fissures and demanding that Andalusia and Andalusian farmers be respected: “Do not change the model, continue working from loyalty, with the Constitution and the Statute in hand, exercise your powers with respect”, encouraged the Andalusian baron. Both popular leaders played with the idea that Sánchez got off the Falcón, the official plane of the President of the Government, to “insult & rdquor; to the Andalusians “by a handful of votes & rdquor;Moreno said. At the end of the day, the Andalusian president collected an award from the Huelva Strawberry Producers and Exporters Association, freshuelvafor his defense of the sector.
The PP has turned the Doñana affair into a political struggle over drought and the lack of hydraulic infrastructures. In the popular ranks they appeal to the defense of Andalusian autonomy to defend the redevelopment of land in the north crown of the nature reserve and give their support to the thousand farmers whose farms were reclassified as forestry in 2014 by the socialist government and who, with the legal reform underway, will see how their hectares become irrigated.
For his part, the President of the Government has raised the struggle for Doñana to a State affair and a European problemwhere he laments “denialism & rdquor; of the PP in the middle of a climate emergency and denounces an “outrage & rdquor; severe environmental The position of the nation’s Executive has the support of the European Union, which closely follows everything that is happening with the threat of sanctions and alerting that European environmental legislation and the ruling of the EU court of justice are being violated. who has already called for a drastic cut in the pressure that intensive agriculture and tourism exerts on the water in Doñana. “The result will be a fine that all Spaniards will have to pay,” said Sánchez, convinced that an “unaffordable” environmental cost is even worse.
European legality
The socialist leader, who held a meeting with the workers of the Doñana Biological Station and the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation, considered that his visit to the biosphere reserve testifies to the “commitment & rdquor; of your Government to protect the Park and help raise awareness of the climate emergency. The president warned that the legal reform of irrigation, which his government has already announced will submit to the Constitutional Court this “undermining & rdquor; the image of farmers from Huelva. “I call for reflection and rectification, to abandon arrogant positions and return to the path of European legality & rdquor ;, she stressed.
Sánchez did not want to answer if he has spoken with the president of the Junta de Andalucía and he did not clarify whether the Government is going to short-circuit the legal reform promoted by PP and Vox and withdraw powers to the community about the Nature Park. On this matter days ago the Ministry for Ecological Transition already completely ruled out a 155, withdrawing the powers over Doñana.
the water battle
The conservative leader, who from the beginning avoided putting himself in profile with the matter and endorsed the battle in support of Juanma Moreno, was very forceful against the Executive. “Go five lost years of water policy, not to mention a pact for water, confronting communities, farmers and ranchers over water. But they have already found the culprit of the drought, Juanma Moreno& rdquor ;.
Feijóo, from the Muelle del Tinto and accompanied by the Huelva mayoral candidate, Pilar Miranda, was very critical of the arrival of Sánchez “in Falcon while Huelva continues to wait for the compromised infrastructures& rdquor ;. He blamed the Executive for being “polarizing & rdquor; with his position: “I agree that Doñana is not touched. But that the Government does not come to tamper with Doñana and blame the Andalusians. That does not grope a natural park which is the pride of all Andalusia and Spain. If he really cared about the Doñana reserve, he should have met with the president of the Board and executed the works & rdquor ;, he repeated over and over again.
Both Sánchez and Feijóo also took advantage of their visit to Andalusia to hold two rallies in Mairena del Alcor (Seville), after the Huelva agenda, and in Córdoba, the PSOE. Together with Moreno, the president of the popular ones again influenced his appeal to the disenchanted socialist voter, a vote-transfer formula that gave the PP a historic majority in Andalusia last June.
Response letter
The Ministry for Ecological Transition sent, in accordance with the established deadline, its official response to the letter that the European Commission sent to Spain warning of a “flagrant violation & rdquor; of the ruling of the European court of justice that in 2021 condemned that drastic measures not be adopted. To send that answer, he echoed the reports that the Government of Andalusia sent on the proposed law.
From the Board they disseminated the documents that they have sent to the Ministry and where they make it clear that “it is not an initiative of the Andalusian Government, but of Parliament itself, a reflection of the necessary division of powers that must inspire any democratic system & rdquor ;. The Executive of Moreno has avoided assuming the initiative as his own and they are PP and Vox those who registered the bill.
The text of the Andalusian Government also leaves the door open for changes in the norm. “The mere processing of this bill does not directly or indirectly imply any effect on compliance with the (European) sentence, since, at this time, the final result of the text is unknown which will finally be approved in parliament, after all the amendments presented by the different parliamentary groups to enrich the text of the law & rdquor ;, maintains the general director of Protected Natural Areas, who signs the response. “It is a land management plan, and therefore, its possible modification does not imply in any way the granting of a water concession to be able to exercise irrigation in the area. The Law Proposal makes it clear that the aquifer of Doñana neither touches nor is affected, simply establishes a classification of land as irrigable agricultural, always with surface water, and whenever that availability exists in the future. In other words, it does not affect the increase in the extraction of underground resources, since it does not grant a water concession to said land, nor does it therefore allow an increase in the extraction of underground water resources,” insists the Andalusian government.