On this side of the aqueduct, next to the Mediterranean, all demand unity, and all agree that the reform of the Tagus Hydrological Plan imposed by a government Royal Decree is unacceptable, which entails the progressive reduction of the flow that the Segura basin will receive from the river born in the Sierra de Albarracín in Teruel, in order to guarantee a minimum -ecological- flow as it passes through Aranjuez. But there is no unity possible.
Therefore, the Supreme Court will have to analyze different resources and rule on different requests for precautionary suspension of the measures that are the subject of discussion. And, if we look at the identity of the appellants and those who adhere to their respective initiatives, it seems that the matter has more to do with political than hydrographic reasons.
Or perhaps it is coincidence that the appeal presented by the Generalitat Valenciana has been joined by nine councils of the receiving basin governed by socialist mayors, fellow party members of President Ximo Puig; and that the autonomous governments of Murcia and Andalusia -governed by the PP- have coordinated with the Provincial Council of Alicante, whose president is from the Valencian PP and aspires to be from the Generalitat Valenciana, to coordinate their allegations.
It is to this last document that the Central Union of Irrigators of the Tajo-Segura (SCRATS) has adhered, since it is the most demanding resource, since, while the Consell admits the first step in the implementation of the ecological flow and only He asks to stop the cuts planned later -as long as the merits of the matter are not ruled- the Murcian-Andalusian-Alicantino resource proposes the immediate stoppage of even that first cut.
Lucas Jiménez, president of SCRATS, yesterday praised the "unity of action" shown by the Murcian Government, the Junta de Andalucía, the Alicante Provincial Council and his own union when it came to "coordinating" the four appeals that they have presented to the Court Supreme. But he warns that the matter has a legal journey of duration "not less than a year and a half" until the High Court resolves. And he admits that it is "very difficult" to win a contentious appeal to the State.
Jiménez met yesterday with the President of the Murcian Government, Fernando López Miras, who stated that if there is no precedent that a similar appeal has been filed, it is because "there has never been a central government so sectarian that it has dared to cut 50% del Tajo-Segura in a completely political, unilateral and ideological way".
Meanwhile, the municipalities of the Alicante towns of Elx, Orihuela, Guardamar, Dolores, San Fulgencio, Benferri, Rafal, San Miguel de Salinas and Los Montesinos, all with a socialist mayor and belonging to the Bajo Vinalopó and Vega Baja del Segura regions , have appeared together with the Consell in the appeal that the Generalitat's Attorney has presented before the Supreme Court.
In this sense, sources from the Valencian government explained that the deadline for registering the resources closed on Tuesday, while highlighting that "the main municipalities affected by the driving support the action of the Generalitat in defense of the Alicante irrigators".
In the appeal, the Supreme Court is asked for the precautionary suspension of the ecological flows planned from 2026 on the grounds that "the planned increase is based on an arbitrary decision and lacking technical grounds."
From the PP, the general secretary in Alicante, Ana Serna, believes that the affected municipalities have joined the Consell's appeal "out of political interest", since in her opinion the appeal is "harmful for Alicante and condemns the south of the province to be a scavenger". "The Generalitat Valenciana is giving up 28 cubic hectometres of water per year for the Vega Baja while the PSOE municipalities sign it," says Serna, who is a deputy for the Water Cycle in the Alicante Provincial Council.
The appeal presented by the Region of Murcia is accompanied by a study according to which for each cubic meter that the flow that the Tagus river must carry as it passes through Aranjuez is increased, almost 9,800 jobs and 524 million euros per year would be lost in the three provinces affected by the cut: Alicante, Murcia and Almería.
The report has been directed by Joaquín Melgarejo, professor of Applied Economic Analysis at the University of Alicante, and experts from the universities of Alcalá de Henares and Miguel Hernández de Elx, and from SCRATS) have participated, coordinated by the Euro-Mediterranean Water Institute, a foundation whose board is chaired by the Department of Water, Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Region of Murcia.
