Antonio Luengo, in the Regional Assembly, this Wednesday. /
Martínez Vidal reveals that in the state registry of polluting sources there is no data on the 157 macro-farms in the Region, despite the fact that it is mandatory
Last year, technicians from the Ministry of Water, Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and the Environment carried out 1,337 control inspections of livestock farms in the Region “to guarantee compliance with the requirements included in the law, animal welfare, protection of the environment and excellence in the quality of the meat produced”, as announced this Wednesday at the Antonio Luengo Assembly. However, he did not clarify how many of them ended up in disciplinary proceedings. The counselor appeared at his own request to report on the situation of livestock and the regional meat industry, regarding the statements by the Minister of Consumption, Alberto Garzón, to a British newspaper about the quality of the meat that Spain exports.
Twenty inspectors were in charge of making all these revisions in the farms. Their work, according to Luengo, allows them to maintain control over authorizations, the National Residue Investigation Plan, animal welfare standards and slaughter in slaughterhouses, the use of veterinary medicines, the transport of animals, as well as the control farms located in vulnerable areas.
However, the counselor left unanswered the questions of the deputy of Citizens, Ana Martínez Vidal, who was interested in knowing the results of these inspections, as well as the reasons why there is no data in the State Registry of Emissions and Sources Pollutants from only one of the 157 macro-farms existing in the regional territory, despite the legal obligation to publish the reports. The former minister defended the small producers and freelancers in the sector for whom she requested administrative streamlining, because bureaucracy is a “real brake on the development of their activity”, and demanded aid so that they maintain their work. She also recalled that there are thousands of people living next to large farms and suffering from all the environmental problems of these farms.
As a result of Martínez Vidal’s questions, Luengo reported that his department opened 1,025 sanctioning files last year for alleged environmental infractions. Previously, he was questioned about the blockage that exists in the Ministry due to the lack of personnel. THE TRUTH revealed this Wednesday that two thousand unresolved files are accumulated for this reason and that the General Directorate of the Environment has asked him to hire seven technicians “urgently and urgently” to accelerate the adaptation to the law of industries and feedlots . The counselor assured that the Region is “leader” in compliance with animal welfare standards, in the quality of its industry and in compliance with environmental standards.
Despite this, Martínez Vidal warned her for a “leaving functions” that “comes from afar”, especially in the slope basin of the Mar Menor. And he recalled that his predecessor, Antonio Cerdá, is facing requests for jail sentences in the ‘Topillo case’ for contamination in the salty lagoon.
Among the anticipated advances, the councilor highlighted that the Community is working on the development of a computer tool that improves coordination with farmers in terms of regulations and authorizations. The objective, he explained, is to streamline administrative procedures, the application of available technical improvements, the traceability of by-products, as well as to strengthen transparency and participation. He defined it as a “necessary application, with 21st century management formulas that allow us to make decisions in a totally objective manner and that implement the environmental, hygienic-sanitary, animal movement and traceability needs of our livestock farms that make sustainable, the necessary coexistence with the sector».
With the assault on the Lorca plenary as a backdrop and a recurring issue throughout the session, the socialist Fernando Moreno asked the counselor to take advantage of the resources that the central Administration makes available to the sector for its modernization and defended the management of the Minister of Agriculture, Louis Plans.
As usual in the Assembly, the mess came during the intervention of the Podemos deputy María Marín, who in addition to defending Garzón, accused Lorca of the “Trumpist assault” on the PP and the “far right of Vox.” The spokesman for the Popular Group, Joaquín Segado, demanded the withdrawal of those words and she insisted that the assault occurred “for a very simple reason: they had been preparing this assault for a month since the PP and the far right of Vox.” The intervention of the president of the Assembly, Alberto Castillo, will make it possible for these statements to appear in the session diary preceded by the term “allegedly.” Although Marín did not stop there: he also accused the counselor of turning a “blind eye” to businessmen in the sector, said that the groups that support the regional government defend the interests of “Don Tomás” and advanced that he will present an initiative in the Assembly to stop all pig macro-farm projects in the pipeline in various municipalities.
The interventions of the deputies Francisco Álvarez, Juan José Liarte and Jesús Cano, representatives respectively of the Ciudadanos, Vox and Popular groups, revolved around the defense of farmers and ranchers through attacks on the policies of the socialist government of Pedro Sánchez. As is also usual in the regional Parliament, there were also allusions to the pacts with independentistas and heirs of ETA to disqualify the national Executive.
