Until after the municipal elections of 28-M, not a single paper will move in the Andalusian Parliament on the PP and Vox bill that expands irrigation around the Doñana Natural Park. That’s the firm intention PP sources conveyed this Thursday about the controversial initiative, which has turned on the red lights in Brussels since right-wing groups registered it in the Andalusian chamber on March 3.
The PP wants to wait for the electoral success of the debate. Despite the position against Unesco, the scientific community, the European Commission, the Spanish government and environmental groups, the communities are sticking to their proposal, although they are willing to change it through negotiations, as the junta’s president Juan Manuel is saying today Moreno Bonilla, in the scrutiny session of the Andalusian Parliament. “We cannot withdraw anything until there is an alternative,” he stressed. In any case, processing will be hibernated for a while.
The PP and Vox draft law aims to expand the irrigable agricultural land in the Condado de Huelva region, whose owners exempted from regulation in 2014, by decree known as the strawberry plan, the special plan for irrigation management of the county of Huelva five communes ( Almonte, Bonares, Lucena del Puerto, Moguer and Rociana del Condado). The initiative does not clarify how many hectares this extension of irrigation will affect, but in a letter to the European Commission in February 2022, the Junta de Andalucía indicated that it would amount to 748.62 hectares. The PP says that these crops are irrigated with surface water from the transfer of the Tinto, Odiel and Piedras rivers, not water from the Doñana aquifer. However, environmental groups fear the park will eventually be affected.
The Andalusian Parliament agreed on the urgent path for this project, cutting the time in half. Last day 2 ended the term to request appearances. Now the board of the Development Commission had to approve the final list and set a date for these performances. But PP sources claim that the table will be convened not before 28-M. So there will be a bracket for the local elections. However, the PP does not refrain from passing the law before the end of the current session in July, as demanded by the government led by Juan Manuel Moreno and the popular faction.
In any case, both the junta and the central government on the outskirts of the campaign rule out opening a negotiation to amend the bill at this time. The Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, calls for the repeal of the law in order to start the conversation; and Moreno demands “an alternative” before giving in. “We are ready to talk to everyone, to dialogue,” stressed the Andalusian President, pointing out that the proposal could be modified during the parliamentary procedure. For the time being, the left-wing factions in Parliament are sticking to their decision not to table any amendments and leaving the PP alone in this debate.
The President of the Board is also being pressured by Vox, his ally in the previous legislature and the ultimate reason the PP registered the proposal to expand irrigation around Doñana. “I hope they don’t give in, we won’t do that,” warned Vox spokesman Manuel Gavira, who accused Moreno of “being an accomplice in the green suffocation of the farmers.” Although Moreno 15 days ago acknowledged the political attrition caused by the proposal to expand irrigation around the park – “I’m leaving debris behind,” he said – the PP has counterattacked with the drought and lack of water works Andalusia. “Pedro Sánchez is the enemy of the peasants, he is the enemy of the Andalusians. Its motto is neither Andalusia nor water,” said PP spokesman Toni Martín today.
What affects most is what happens closer. Subscribe so you don’t miss anything.
subscribe to