Teresa Ribera denounces before Europe the PP irrigation plan for Doñana

The battle for Doñana spreads across Europe.

The Third Vice President and Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, met this Tuesday in Stockholm with the European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevicius, to talk about "the worrying situation in the Andalusian national park" and the controversial irrigation plan that the regional government of the PP with Vox intends to carry out.

An initiative that has also been denounced in Strasbourg by almost fifty MEPs of various stripes who have recalled that "saving Doñana" is a matter that concerns the whole of Europe.

Faced with growing political pressure in the European instances, which have also made clear their "concern" over the plans for the Andalusian national park in recent days, the European People's Party (EPP) has counterattacked by requesting, in turn, a "urgent meeting" with the top environmental officials in Brussels, to whom he intends to explain the Andalusian proposal and dismantle the "partisan interests" that he says are behind the complaints.

The response of the PPE led by the German Manfred Weber, firm support in Europe of Alberto Núñez Feijóo before the Spanish electoral marathon this year, has been known at a time when Ribera was meeting with Sinkevicius in Stockholm, taking advantage of an informal meeting of ministers of the branch of the EU in the Swedish capital to meet with the European responsible for the Environment who now also wants to see the popular.

After the meeting in the Swedish capital, which lasted for about 50 minutes, Ribera has assured that the Commission is "concerned about the situation of Doñana and the potential additional risk" that the bill in process may entail.

"The main message is that the situation and the concern have not changed and that the best thing we could do is work to reduce existing risks and not add any new ones" for the national park, Ribera summarized.

A spokesperson for the Commission has limited himself to indicating that Sinkevicius "remembered that he takes the implementation of the sentences" of the CJEU very seriously and that "he will not hesitate to use the means at his disposal" to ensure that Spain complies with the opinion of the judges of Luxembourg "as soon as possible".

Brussels is very careful about words in the face of a dispute that has a marked political overtone just over a month before the Spanish municipal and regional elections, and with national elections before the end of the year (in the midst of the Spanish presidency of the EU).

Despite this, the European Executive has made it clear on several occasions - the last one, last week, just when the Andalusian parliament gave the green light to the express processing of a bill that seeks to regulate the situation of hundreds of irrigated hectares up to now illegal in the surroundings of the national park—which follows very closely, and with great concern, everything that concerns Doñana, especially after the new plans presented, to which it had already warned in the past.

In fact, the monitoring that comes from afar: after repeated warnings, the Commission already sued Spain before the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) in 2019 "for the lack of protection of the Doñana wetland".

The conviction for breach of "the obligations incumbent on him" came two years later.

Faced with the continued lack of action, and faced with the new Andalusian law proposal, only a month ago, the Director General of the Environment, Florika Fink-Hooijer, sent a letter to the Spanish Government threatening to return to Luxembourg to claim "pecuniary sanctions ” if the legislative initiative goes ahead, which for the high European official would be “a flagrant violation of the provisions” in the CJEU ruling.

"The Commission will not hesitate to take all necessary measures to ensure that Spain complies with the CJEU ruling," a Commission spokesperson reiterated in this regard last week.

After the meeting in Stockholm, in which Fink-Hooijer also participated, Ribera has assured that he is going to prepare the central government's formal response to the letter from the head of Brussels "taking into account the explanations" of the Andalusian government.

In any case, sources familiar with the meeting in Sweden point out, the representatives of the Commission have transferred to Spain that "the CJEU ruling must be complied with" and that, in this sense, the position of Brussels since the March letter "does not nothing has moved."

The concern of the Executive of Brussels for what the Government of Moreno Bonilla is doing is "very high", the sources emphasize.

park protection

A position that the PPE considers distorted by the "partisan interests" that it affirms are behind the complaints against a bill that, according to Spanish and European conservatives, "does not harm the Andalusian park, but rather protects it", as emphasized in the letter to Sinkevicius and the vice-president of the Commission and head of the Green Pact, Frans Timmermans.

The signatories, the German Weber and the Spanish Dolors Montserrat and Juan Ignacio Zoido, also ensure that the Andalusian Government's plan "does not affect compliance with the CJEU ruling on Doñana, but rather guarantees its compliance, because the draft law does not allow the extraction of groundwater from the aquifer, contrary to what the Socialist Group self-interestedly has been transmitting to the Commission”.

It is not the only appointment pending from the senior officials of the Commission.

On Friday, the president of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group in the European Parliament, the Spanish Iratxe García, also requested an interview with both about the national park.

Doñana “already suffers from overexploitation which, together with prolonged record-breaking droughts, is putting the park at a point of no return.

Increasing irrigation plans despite the already limited water resources of the nature reserve will cause that line to be crossed and will probably cause irreversible damage to ecosystems already at risk," the Spanish socialist recalled in her letter.

If the Andalusian government's plans go ahead, "they would constitute a harmful loss for the region, for Spain, for Europe and beyond," says García, for whom, due to its geographical location, the Andalusian bill "has the potential to affect negatively biodiversity at an international level”, hence the importance of Brussels being well informed.

While waiting for that meeting, which still does not have a scheduled date, García and almost fifty Spanish MEPs - from various parties, except PP and Vox - and other nationalities, gathered this Tuesday at the parliamentary headquarters in Strasbourg to express the "concern" of the European Parliament regarding irrigation plans that "endanger the future and viability of the Doñana park", according to the socialist said while brandishing, like the other parliamentarians - from IU, ERC or Cs, among others- a banner asking: “Save Doñana”.

“Doñana is not owned by anyone, it is the responsibility of everyone, and also of the European Union, which has already expressed its concern about this action.

Acting against science, acting against the European Commission, acting against Unesco itself, should not be allowed", criticized García, who has promised that "a large majority" of MEPs will continue working "to save Doñana and not allow actions to be taken without taking into account a fundamental principle: to guarantee the future of the planet”.

While groups such as the IU have already asked the Commission for precautionary measures if the bill for Doñana goes ahead, García has indicated that he prefers to wait for his appointment in Brussels with the commissioners and "find out what the Commission's idea is" before decide what new steps to take.

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