Catalonia now threatens to abandon the alliance with Madrid and other European regions that calls for softening anti-pollution rules

The Generalitat of Catalonia is now considering leaving the Air Quality Initiative of the Regions (AIR) alliance, which also includes the Community of Madrid and six other European regions, including several Italian regions governed by the far-right Northern League. This has been sent by letter to the members of this alliance, after the controversial request of this group to relax future rules against pollution and that the new European legislation against pollution contemplates exceptions to compliance "for specific regions". All under the argument that the future community standard, which is currently being negotiated by the European institutions, must contain "ambitious but realistic limits".

The AIR group set out its position last October in a document on the revision of EU air quality regulations. But it was not until this Wednesday when that common position was officially presented in the European Parliament by the representatives of three regions of northern Italy, who also said they spoke on behalf of Catalonia, Madrid and the rest of the members of AIR. After EL PAÍS unveiled this document and its presentation in Brussels, criticism of those responsible for the two autonomous communities that have adhered to this request for the reduction of the future community norm took place in Spain. The Ministry for the Ecological Transition, for example, considered that it is an "indecent" proposal that "puts people's lives at risk." "The health of citizens is at stake," added the department headed by the third vice president of the Government, Teresa Ribera. "Measures aimed at reducing pollution cannot be relaxed."

Experts in pollution and health and ecologists consulted by this newspaper have also been very critical of the proposal and the participation of Catalonia in this alliance. For example, María Neira, director of the Department of Public Health and Environment at the World Health Organization (WHO), has warned that "lowering ambition in air quality standards means high levels of pollution and, consequently, deaths associated with lung cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular diseases, more cases of asthma, neurological affectations...".

After these negative reactions, the Generalitat has sent two letters to Brussels on Friday trying to qualify its position and in which it leaves open the door to leave the AIR group. The first is for François Wakenhut, Head of Unit in the European Commission's Directorate-General for the Environment. The second to all AIR members.

In these letters, the Department of Climate Action, Food and Catalan Rural Agenda, which is the one that signs the letter and has also disseminated them to the media, the Generalitat does not dissociate itself from the document approved in October by all the members of AIR. But it focuses its criticism on the statements made during the presentation of the document in Brussels by the president of the Lombardy region, Attilio Fontana (of the Northern League), who among other things said that European measures against pollution are "absolutely irrational".

To those words, and not to the substance of the matter, is what the Generalitat is now clinging to to leave the door open to abandon AIR. "They have caused confusion and damage to the work and credibility of the Generalitat of Catalonia," said one of the letters sent on Friday. "I hope you agree that this is an unfortunate situation that calls into question the continuity of the Generalitat of Catalonia within AIR. I would therefore like you to consider rectifying the misunderstanding caused by the interventions during the event and clarifying where AIR's current position lies. I look forward to receiving your response to the questions raised in this letter," says the letter addressed to the eight regions that are part of this alliance born in 2011 and that since then has maintained a common position during the updates of the European standards against pollution that have been undertaken.

At the moment, Brussels is the scene of an important debate on the tightening of air quality directives so that Community regulations approach the limits of exposure to the main pollutants recommended as safe by the WHO. The agency, after reviewing the scientific literature generated in the last 15 years, decided in September 2021 to tighten these thresholds for suspended particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM₂,₅), particles less than 10 microns (PM₁₀), ozone (O₃), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and carbon monoxide (CO). And, after that positioning, last year, the European institutions started the process to update the directives to try to get closer to the recommendations of the WHO, which is expected to be closed this year. It is in this context that the AIR document and the presentation in the European Parliament are framed.

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