The Botànic chooses to safeguard an image of unity and postpones the debate on renewables

The three spokespersons for the leftist groups waited for the drafting of the agreement to be closed to meet again before the Les Corts ficus and climb all together (accompanied by the Esquerra Unida negotiator) up the elegant spiral staircase that connects the garden with the Hemicycle .

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
26 May 2022 Thursday 20:53
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The Botànic chooses to safeguard an image of unity and postpones the debate on renewables

The three spokespersons for the leftist groups waited for the drafting of the agreement to be closed to meet again before the Les Corts ficus and climb all together (accompanied by the Esquerra Unida negotiator) up the elegant spiral staircase that connects the garden with the Hemicycle . They thus tried to rebuild an image of unity after days of intense meetings in which there were times when even the Consell's anti-crisis measures decree was in danger with the unforeseeable consequences that this would have had.

And it is that the agreement reached in extremis and a little more than an hour after the vote in plenary shows that, having reached the abyss, the three groups chose not to harm each other anymore and try to convey an image of unity by postponing their differences for a few months.

The protagonists presented the agreement but they did not even have time to explain to the journalists how the agreed measures were going to be executed, since they had to enter a vote that was expected to be adjusted due to the absence of some deputies. It seemed that some even had to explain or convince some of their deputies of the content of the agreement. They succeeded since in the end there were no leaks and the validation (and the refusal to process it as a bill) was approved by 50 votes in favor and 43 against.

The explanation of the agreement reached was also not easy since the media were sent two different texts. In one, a summary of the consensus, it was explained that the parliamentary groups agreed to "the introduction" of a series of measures "in the legislative processes throughout this year." In other words, the idea was sold that in future regulations such as the Climate Change Law or the Circular Economy Law, nuances would be introduced to the agreed text.

However, the text actually signed by the trustees had a very different header in which the groups urged the Consell to include the aforementioned changes in the 2023 Accompaniment Law. The subject that undertakes to do is not less than in the first the changes are the groups and, in the other, the Executive. At least the proposals agreed to modify and complement the approved decree did coincide.

However, it does not seem that their specification is too clarifying. The text talks about the creation of a Valencian Energy Agency that can market electricity; the installation of photovoltaic power plants and wind farms in urban, industrial areas and degraded land or of zero environmental, agricultural and heritage value; or a reinforcement of environmental protection to minimize the impact on protected natural spaces of special value. Also of mechanisms that allow municipalities to participate in the planning and management of the implementation of renewable energies in their term.

Ideas in which the three groups that support the Government agree, but it will be necessary to see how they end up being specified in the Accompaniment Law. A regulation that has always generated a lot of tension between the partners and that, now, will face a new problem since it will have to solve some differences that have been postponed after weeks of discussion.

Until we see how these changes take place a few months from now, it is difficult to know who has won in this battle. At the moment, the socialist Ana Barceló emerges gracefully from her first wrong and breathes because the content of the decree will not be touched nor will an energy sovereignty law be promoted that would have left this Government rule a dead letter. Despite the pressure from the members of the PSPV, the notice from the ministers Mónica Oltra and Mireia Mollà asking theirs to modify the text, did not leave Compromís much room for manoeuvre.