The lack of rain is drying up Catalonia with no immediate solution in sight. The weather forecasts taken into account by the meteorological service (Meteocat) and the technicians of the Catalan Water Authority (ACA) predict that the months of April and May will be moderately rainy, but not enough to alleviate the lack of water in reservoirs and marshes. , whose reserves are 27% utilized. To return to the long-awaited normalcy, 600 liters per square meter would have to be drained before summer or, which amounts to the same thing, all the rain that Barcelona accumulates over the course of a year would have to fall suddenly. The Generalitat government is trying to speed up measures to counteract the effects of the drought, but is faced with its isolation. Esquerra has only 33 MPs out of 135 in Parliament and faces every vote as torture. This weak support was evident this Friday at the drought summit held by the government in the Generalitat, where it summoned all parties except Vox. The Aragonès anti-drought plan has been overwhelmed with changes. There was no agreement to activate sanctions on communities that use too much water, and the government is being forced to take sole responsibility for controlling communities in the midst of the May 28 election campaign.
“An agreement could not have been possible, we did not find the will,” complained Climate Minister Teresa Jordà. The opposition reacted quickly. “It is another failure of the government in the face of an emergency in a country like a drought,” said Albert Batet of Junts. “The government cannot centrifuge responsibility, the emergency cannot be met with sanctions,” criticized Batet. A similar argument was put forward by PSC’s Silvia Paneque: “You cannot govern with your back to the municipalities.”
The summit lasted nearly four hours and ended in the debate on consistory fines. Esquerra defended the immediate monitoring of municipal consumption. Junts and PSC proposed a moratorium until July 1st for the former and September 1st for the Socialists. There was no pact. “Pure political tactics,” the CUP tried to summarize. “It was another missed opportunity,” lamented the Commons’ Jéssica Albiach. It’s your turn to blame. “We had the promise not to obstruct,” claimed the PSC. “We had no intention of imposing a fine,” insisted the agent Jordà. But for his part, he conceded that only the disagreement over the fines shattered the consensus. The legislative decree passed ten days ago already provides for the possibility of sanctions, but does not specify a timetable. Esquerra tried to reach a consensus to start applying the sanctions, but the government has to perform the functions of inspector without the support of anyone.
ERC spokeswoman Marta Vilalta criticized that the disagreement is also protracting other items emerging in the government’s anti-drought plan, such as an investment package to optimize water regeneration and purification or the green light to the pools of parishes to fill this summer . “It will also be allowed,” government sources said.
The Catalan Water Authority, a body under the Ministry of Climate Protection, warned throughout the week of the need to implement a tough water consumption plan. “If it doesn’t rain, we risk entering the emergency phase in September, but if we don’t do things right, the emergency will happen sooner,” ACA director Samuel Reyes had warned. The embassy tried to support the government’s idea that it was necessary to apply sanctions to ensure moderation on the taps. The government in early March decreed a state of emergency (penultimate on the severity scale) for the Ter Llobregat system, which feeds the Barcelona metropolitan area, and the Fluvià-Muga aquifer (Girona). In 224 communities with almost 6 million inhabitants, the regulation provides far-reaching limits for agricultural, industrial and urban water use. The situation in the eastern half is only slightly less dramatic, with the most drought-affected areas of Lleida and Tarragona, which depend on the Ebro River, exceeding their allocated water consumption limits. “This is not a collection method, but a deterrent measure,” the government tried to defend during the summit in order to convince the other parties of the need to activate a fine plan of between 10,000 and 150,000 euros.
This Friday’s summit was the government’s response to opposition criticism of the lack of dialogue when defining the measures. In the executive branch, they insist the groups have been briefed on the articles and demand that their leadership be respected in setting policies. The ERC is far from having a sufficient majority in Parliament, and on several occasions representatives of the Junts’ ex-partners, the PSC and even the Commons have argued that Republicans have chosen a negotiating path typical of those who are in a position of strength when they actually need pacts to advance. They gave the green light to the legislative decree, albeit with a loud warning.
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The government and opposition have clashed several times over the validation of this type of regulation. The lack of confidence in action to respond to the decline in water reserves led the groups to question Aragonès’ promise that there will be a supplementary decree to incorporate the agreements that could emerge from this Friday’s meeting. For this reason, they have kept the way open to edit the current text as a bill, thereby ensuring space for amendments and debate. To make matters worse, Aragonès announced the summit on March 9, just before he embarked on a tour of Latin America. The meeting takes place 22 days later.
Within Republicans, they understand that there is an electoral interest in criticizing the government’s management. Hence, for days, Aragonès and the party’s leading swords have been warning of the “fallacy” that would mean “a water war.” The PSC is seen as interested in staging its influence in the executive branch after the Generalitat’s budgets are approved, and dismisses its criticism of an alleged lack of investment in infrastructure.
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