Doñana's crisis is intensifying. The proposed law that the PP and Vox have promoted in the Andalusian Parliament to regularize around 800 hectares of illegal irrigation in the area of Doñana may further deteriorate the state of conservation of this valuable natural enclave, according to scientists ( CSIC), ecologists and other experts. But if the processing of this initiative ends, there is another added risk: that new sanctions and coercive fines will be imposed against Spain. This is the threat that the European Commission (EC) reiterated yesterday.
After the PP and Vox law proposal became known (presented on March 3), the EC already sent a letter to the Spanish Government in which it warned that, should the processing of this proposal prosper in the announced terms , "a flagrant violation of the provisions of the Court of Justice's ruling" of June 2021 would be taking place. In the decision, Spain was condemned by the Court of Justice of the European Union for breaching the obligations derived from the framework directives Water and the Habitat directive. It was condemned for the excessive and illegal extractions of water for crops and for "not having planned any measures to avoid the alteration caused" by these abstractions on priority habitats.
The risk is that the Commission will initiate a new procedure which, in this case, would already entail a penalty. Spain is already paying millions in fines, for example, for the insufficient treatment of waste water. The European Commission, specifically, reserves the possibility of adopting "all the necessary measures, including the filing of a new appeal before the Court of Justice in which it would request that pecuniary sanctions be imposed".
"I would like to insist that it is necessary to immediately guarantee the strict protection of the exceptional natural values of Doñana, especially taking into account the current context, in which precipitation is increasingly irregular due to climate change", writes Florika Fink in the letter -Hooijer, general director of Environment at the ambassador-representative of Spain.
Yesterday, Brussels once again wielded this threat and recalled that there is "solid" scientific and technical evidence on the "adverse effects" of the overexploitation of its underground waters. "If necessary, the European Commission will have the possibility to adopt new measures to ensure that Spain complies with the ruling of the Court of Justice on Doñana", said community spokesman Tim McPhie. The Community Executive is "analyzing" the "observations" sent by the Spanish authorities as part of this file.
"This is the third warning from the European Commission, and we already know that this institution is like a bulldozer, slow, but overwhelming", warns Juan Carlos del Olmo, secretary general of the WWF, an organization promoting the conservation of Doñana in the 1960s and who filed the complaint that gave rise to all this litigation ten years ago.
The Minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, reminded the President of the Board, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, of all this, and sent him the Commission's letter accompanied by a personal text. "The protection of Doñana is a matter of maximum environmental, social and legal interest, both for the Spanish and for the European institutions and nature lovers in the world", the minister remarks.
The Court of Justice of the EU, based in Luxembourg, condemned Spain in 2018 to pay 12 million euros to the EU budget for the deficient treatment of waste water in 17 localities. In addition, it forced the Central Government to pay a coercive fine of 10,950,000 euros for each semester of delay in the application of the measures to comply with a 2011 conviction. The coercive fines are paid according to the severity of the infringement of the European law and are reduced if the required measures are met.
If the law is finally approved, it is certain that the Central Government will present an appeal of unconstitutionality, since this parliamentary initiative grants water rights to rainfed farmers (from an eventual transfer of the Tinto-Odiel-Piedras rivers) , a faculty that corresponds to the Central Administration.
On the other hand, the prestige of the red fruits of Huelva is at stake and its possible reputational damage. There are signs of concern in European markets, whose consumers refuse to accept "illegal strawberries". In fact, the WWF promotes that these exports are accompanied by water and soil legality certificates. The legal framework for the European markets defined it as the so-called Plan de la Corona Forestal. But if they regularize new hectares of illegal irrigation, legal and illegal products will be mixed in the consumption basket.
Another derivative of this regulation is that farmers with rain-fed land and who irrigate illegally will see irrigation rights recognized for when a transfer arrives from the Tinto-Odiel. But, for now, the mere recognition will lead to a revaluation of the dryland hectare (and it would go from between 6,000 and 10,000 euros per hectare to between 60,000 and 100,000 euros per hectare, according to some estimates). "A great pelotazo is at stake," sums up Del Olmo.
