“It is not possible to dialogue on the basis of illegality. Enough of demanding dialogue about an illegality. Saving Doñana depends on everyone, but each one has to assume their own responsibility, and that of Mr. Moreno Bonilla is clear: stop allying with Vox, and think again about the interests of all and legality ”. With a solemn tone, the Third Vice President and Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, has warned the Junta de Andalucía of the serious repercussions that the approval of the bill presented to "order" illegal irrigation in the area of Doñana will have. (registered by PP and Vox in the Andalusian Parliament).
The Government will go to the Constitutional Court to avoid it and, in addition, the possible European sanctions that Brussels imposes on the Kingdom of Spain for not complying with the sentence that obliges it to protect the Doñana National Park will be passed on to the Andalusian government.
"The water is already compromised on the basis of the Guadalquivir hydrological plan, and, in relation to which, the Junta de Andalucía did not make the slightest comment," says the minister. “It is not possible to invent more water, because the compromised water is for legal irrigators,” she recalled.
The PP and Vox proposal points out as a solution a transfer of water from the Odiel, Tinto and Piedras rivers for irrigators; but this work is a state responsibility and, in addition, the forecast is that it will serve so that current legal risks stop capturing groundwater and thus alleviate the pressure on the Doñana aquifer. This, by lowering its levels due to the drought and the decrease in rainfall, has dried up the lagoons.
"The Government demands that the Government and the Andalusian Parliament withdraw the bill, I ask Moreno Bonilla and Núñez Feijóo to stop putting the future of Spain at risk," Ribera demanded at a press conference held in Madrid.
The minister insisted that this bill (registered in the Andalusian Parliament) is subject to strict monitoring and "deep concern" from the European authorities (including a letter from the Director General of the Environment) for the situation in Doñana, within the infringement procedure against Spain.
"In the opinion of the European Commission, it is not a debatable matter or subject to interpretation. There is no doubt. What there is is a sentence" of the European High Court of Justice (June 2021), which condemns Spain as a result of " The 2015-2021 hydrological plan approved by the Government of Mariano Rajoy did not take into account the hydrological needs of the National Park", the minister asserted. For all this, there was "a serious breach of European regulations that require compliance with the habitat directive"
The Commission wishes to see the measures for compliance with this ruling strengthened and considers that this parliamentary initiative "goes in a diametrically opposite direction" to what is necessary for the protection of Doñana committed by Spain.
Therefore, he reiterated, there is a serious risk that if this bill goes ahead, the European Commission, as it has warned, will use "all the means at its disposal", including the possibility of going back to the Court of Justice to request the imposition of fines against the Kingdom of Spain. This is something that "he has already done on other occasions and insists that he will not have the slightest doubt regarding the need to do it in this case," he warned.
Therefore, in the event that the bill goes ahead, "obviously" the Government would go to the Constitutional Court and does not rule out that, in the event that there are economic sanctions, the Executive will think "how can this fine be transferred coercive to those who know that this is a real threat that they have left in writing" in the meeting with the European commissioner.
"The message is clear. There is no room for amendments, there is only room for withdrawal," said Ribera, who insists on the "full return of this law to the place from which it should never have left."
Ribera has insisted that "it is not possible to invent more water" and that the flow considered in the Guadalquivir hydrological plan is already compromised, for which reason "it is appropriate to withdraw this text." The Government is not going to negotiate anything "on the basis of illegality, because the additional water that could be obtained "is already compromised for legal irrigators, for consumers and for the Park itself."
Ribera has stated that the EU Commissioner for the Environment, Virginijus Sinkevicius, in the meeting that both held last week in Stockholm (Sweden), was "clear" and insisted that the sentence is not interpretable or debatable and that the proposal of law in process goes "diametrically opposite" to that of preserving Doñana.
In fact, it recalls that Spain and the Commission had come to establish a calendar for the execution of all the plans in the context of the Guadalquivir hydrological plan and the Doñana framework of actions for its correct execution. Thus, he has affirmed that the commissioner told him that he would like Spain to be "faster" in the application and expressed its lack of environmental protection policy.
The vice president has criticized Moreno Bonilla because "he insists" on explaining what he believes that the European Commission "had not understood, but the Commission is not stupid and understands the things it receives" and has verified a breach on which it is "vigilant ".
For this reason, he explains that Sinkevicius has not taken this meeting as a "courtesy", but in the framework of an infringement procedure against the Kingdom of Spain that could entail a new sanction of "important financial characteristics" against the budget of all the Spanish.
Thus, it has guaranteed that the Government, scientists, Unesco, the Doñana National Park Participation Commission, are not "conspiring" against the bill and against Moreno Bonilla.
Finally, he has appealed "directly" to the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to "impose common sense" given that he is a Europeanist and constitutionalist unless he is "in the hands of Vox and the deniers."
