The Government has raised on Wednesday the tone of its response to the initiative of the Andalusian PP to expand the hectares of irrigation in the surroundings of Doñana and has accused the Board of incurring a "provocation" to the European Union, which already condemned Spain for the poor state of conservation of this space considered a Biosphere Reserve.

The Minister of Energy Transition, Teresa Ribera, has considered an institutional "disloyalty" on the part of the Andalusian executive to offer a resource that Doñana does not have and whose concession depends on another administration, in this case the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation (CHG).

Ribera has announced that the Government will adopt "all measures that are compatible with the Constitution and European Law" to defend the Doñana National Park against the "frivolity" raised by the Junta de Andalucía and the proposal of PP and Vox, which "directly threatens one of the most precious ecosystems in our country".

The minister believes that the Junta is sending a "misleading" message to the farmers it supposedly wants to favor, because "there is no water" to expand irrigation and, therefore, "it makes no sense to promise what there is not and it makes very little sense to promise what you do not have to manage, which is what the Junta de Andalucía is doing. "

He also recalled that the Government transfers to the autonomous communities an economic support package to compensate the populations under the influence of the national parks, and has asked the Board to use those resources, and those from the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) to propose "green measures" in the region.

"For the European Commission this is a provocation of enormous dimensions and I think it makes little sense to govern with those premises," he added.

The president of the Board, Juanma Moreno, has considered this Wednesday "a frivolity that they speak of defending Doñana who have allowed the aquifers to be violated" when "for years they have had the competition and continue to have the competence of the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation ".

Moreno has defended that the Board tries to find solutions to prevent the continued use of groundwater. "It is a law of final point so that irrigation is not expanded and to put order in the chaos that they have created during so many years of Government."

"Not once has the Government of Spain called to negotiate. Not once has he sat at a table to speak and, meanwhile, has a province burning. A park is not defended with the population against, "added Moreno in defense of the interests of farmers who were left out of the 2014 regulation, included in the Forest Plan of the Northern Crown, approved by the previous socialist government.

"No one is going to defend the Doñana Natural Park more" than the Board, which considers it "an impregnable jewel" and that "has the maximum legal protection," he added.

Regarding the possibility that the European Union sanctions Spain for not defending the conservation of Doñana, Moreno has pointed out that "things will be explained correctly so that they do not fall into the falsehoods that are being said by the Government of Spain."

  • European Union
  • Government of Spain
  • European Commission
  • Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla
  • Ministry of Defence
  • To:
  • Teresa Ribera
  • PP

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