The Valencian president, the socialist Ximo Puig, does not want to hear about
water wars
with other autonomous communities on account of the Tajo-Segura transfer, from which Alicante's agriculture and a good part of the rest of southeastern Spain have been nourished for more than four decades.
And, in view of his latest gestures and statements, tempered but firm, he will fight the Government of Pedro Sánchez in defense of the Valencian territory after the Executive declared the pact reached in November for the transfer of water from the Tagus to have been broken. to the Segura river to survive beyond 2025. Puig has shown his willingness to dialogue and negotiate with the Ministry for Ecological Transition (Miteco) regarding the future of the Tagus-Segura, but has warned that he will not accept any "imposition".
At the moment, he has asked the Generalitat's Attorney's Office to prepare allegations to the draft decree on the Tagus plan that, if applied,
will make the transfer of water unfeasible in three or four years.
It will present them to the Council of State, which studies the rule before its approval by the Council of Ministers.
Also the Region of Murcia last allegations.
Four months after the regional elections in May, the political noise generated by such a complex matter and that comes from far away as the distribution of water can distort everything.
"Puig will be on the side of the Valencian irrigators and, without burning stages ahead of time, he will remain firm," say sources close to him.
Isabel Rodríguez, government spokesperson and Minister of Territorial Policy, replied to Puig in Ciudad Real: "The president of the Valencian Generalitat defends the interest of his autonomous community and the Spanish Government, that of our country as a whole."
"What was agreed has to be maintained," Puig insisted earlier in an interview on Onda Cero.
“And if it is not maintained because the Spanish Government wants to change it, it should be done in the National Water Council;
but a territorial confrontation does not have to be considered”, he maintained, showing himself willing to “talk and improve the agreement through dialogue and negotiation”.
The conflict is reminiscent of the one that decades ago confronted the then presidents of Castilla-La Mancha and the Valencian Community, José Bono and Joan Lerma, respectively, both from the PSOE, over the layout of a highway that crossed the natural enclave of the gorges of the Cabriel.
But they are not comparable cases because, unlike then, the current population is increasingly sensitive to climate change and its consequences, and the social tension generated in the Valencian Community by the blockade of a highway that allowed to reach Madrid quickly. And it sure isn't the same.
The idea of the Valencian president is to restore the November pact with Miteco, and one of his arguments is the thousands of jobs generated by Mediterranean agriculture, in addition to its contribution to the country's food sovereignty.
He does not want to rush to court at the first opportunity, although his team assures that nothing is ruled out;
In fact, the Valencian Administration has already resorted to the courts on previous occasions in defense of the transfer, while asking for more desalinated water at affordable prices, and more purification of Madrid's wastewater.
A graffiti against the Tajo-Segura transfer on a bridge over the Entrepeñas reservoir (Guadalajara), in 2018. Álvaro García
In Castilla-La Mancha, the regional government clings to several Supreme Court rulings in defense of an ecological flow and better exploitation of the river.
"The Tagus cannot be a stream that is fed only by Madrid's wastewater, which is what it is today because of the transfer," say sources from the Castilian-La Mancha Executive.
The socialist García-Page sat down with the Spanish Government, with these sentences under his arm, and reached an agreement that gradually increases the ecological flow in the middle basin of the Tagus, as it passes through Aranjuez: it rises from 6 to 7 cubic meters per second from January 1, 2023, to 8 from 2026 and to 8.65 in 2027. The transfer of water to the southeast would be unfeasible with this level of reserves.
They are willing to talk to the Valencian and Murcian governments,
but taking into account that the high court has agreed with them up to eight times and that Castilla-La Mancha "has yielded" in its initial claims to request that a greater ecological flow be applied and well before 2025, which is the agreement with Ecological Transition.
"The dialogue cannot consist of things being the same as in the last 40 years, because there is climate change, less water contributions at the headwaters of the Tagus, and because the river suffers from environmental deterioration," these same sources add.
They will not accept more transfers, they assure.
“Each one has to defend the interests of their territories, it is not an ideological question.
we are not in
fewer contributions of water at the headwaters of the Tagus, and because the river suffers from environmental deterioration”, these same sources add.
They will not accept more transfers, they assure.
“Each one has to defend the interests of their territories, it is not an ideological question.
we are not in
fewer contributions of water at the headwaters of the Tagus, and because the river suffers from environmental deterioration”, these same sources add.
They will not accept more transfers, they assure.
“Each one has to defend the interests of their territories, it is not an ideological question.
we are not in
war
with the Valencian president or with that of Murcia, we only comply with our constitutional obligation ”, concludes the person from García-Page's environment consulted.
The Region of Murcia is also finalizing allegations against the cut in the transfer, justified by what the Government of the popular Fernando López Miras considers "lack of economic and environmental consideration" and "of transparency" in the processing of the draft, according to a statement from the regional Executive .
The third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, has also tried to temper the spirits.
“I want to send a message of tranquility to the irrigators.
It has been very important for us when preparing the hydrological plans to be realistic regarding the risks, because we want to guarantee a solvent economy, which has the necessary water, not only today, but in the future”, she pointed out.
According to her, Ribera, the royal decree incorporates a gradual increase in the Tagus flow in order to ensure that investments in infrastructure that allow more water to be provided to the receiving basins do not entail an increase in costs for irrigators and are effective as soon as possible.
The vice president, taking up Puig's offer of more dialogue, has included in the royal decree on hydrographic planning the creation of bilateral commissions with each of the three autonomous communities that receive water from the transfer.
"And my commitment is that this bilateral commission between the Ministry and the Valencian Generalitat can be held before the end of January," she stated.
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