The Community has already eliminated 202 hectares of illegal irrigation around the lagoon and has reviewed another 19,000
Yesterday, the Mar Menor centered much of the political debate in the region, 24 hours after the promoters of the popular legislative initiative (ILP) defended in Congress its parliamentary process to give the lagoon legal personality. On the one hand, the regional president, Fernando López Miras, expressed his support for this popular initiative, backed by more than 600,000 signatures. “Any type of initiative or action that is aimed at protecting and recovering the Mar Menor I see it well,” said the chief executive. But the Regional Assembly was the stage where the state of the lagoon once again entangled the political groups.
The Minister of Agriculture and the Environment, Antonio Luengo, who also declared himself a supporter of the ILP, starred in the plenary session held in the morning, in which he appeared at his own request to report on the execution of the measures included in the recovery law of the Mar Menor of 2020.
During his speech, Luengo stressed that the Autonomous Community has already returned 202 hectares of illegal irrigation in the Mar Menor area to its original state and has carried out 706 inspections on a total of 19,000 hectares.
Rafael Esteban accused the president of “political cowardice” for not opening a file on polluting companies
While Luengo defended “how much the regional government has done” for the Mar Menor, the spokespersons at the Plenary Session of PSOE and United We Can demanded his resignation for non-compliance with numerous measures.
In detailing the actions carried out by the Ministry, Antonio Luengo explained that today “the Segura Hydrographic Confederation (CHS) has sent us 254 firm resolutions to return 3,809 hectares to their original state. Given the inaction shown on your part in not carrying it out, I remind you that the Region of Murcia is the only autonomous community that can demand it, and it does so at the request of this House, which recognized the inaction of the application of the law by of the river basin organization”. He specified the counselor that all the files are in process and that for the moment the first 202 hectares of illegal irrigation have already been suppressed.
The Regional Assembly held another plenary session in the afternoon with questions to the Chief Executive in which the Mar Menor once again starred in the parliamentary debate on two issues raised by the PSOE and United We Can.
government control
The plenary was opened by the representative of the Mixed Group, the deputy of United We Can Rafael Esteban, who questioned López Miras about the reasons why the autonomous government did not open sanctioning proceedings against eight agricultural companies with responsibilities in the contamination of the Mar Menor until a ruling of the High Court of Justice required it.
Esteban again asked for the resignation of the Minister of Agriculture and the Environment, Antonio Luengo, for “his lack of action” against polluting companies.
López Miras explained that if the regional government did not intervene at first, it was because the instructor of the file determined that it was not the competence of the Community. “Now that the TSJ has said yes, we will start the work and the Ministry will be in charge of starting the files,” added the president.
The Chief Executive recalled the 85 million budgeted this year in projects for the recovery of the area
Esteban accused him of “political cowardice” for hiding behind the instructor of the file. “I do not want to think that it has something to do with the fact that it is about eight large companies in the agricultural sector,” added the parliamentarian of the purple formation.
The socialist spokesman, Francisco Lucas, insisted on the problem of the Mar Menor when asking the president about what his Government is doing to recover the salty lagoon and blaming his “incompetence, incapacity and negligence”. “The Mar Menor is a matter of state and here it has not been up to the task,” added Lucas.
In response to his criticism, López Miras used a series of figures and projects in favor of the Mar Menor launched by the Government, such as the 85 million budgeted this year and the 27 inspectors who work in the area to ensure compliance with the law.
Conference of Presidents
Yesterday’s Plenary of Government control was completed with two more questions, one by the popular spokesman, Joaquín Segado, on Miras’s assessment of the result of the Conference of Presidents held last Sunday in La Palma, and another formulated by the deputy expelled from Vox Juan José Liarte in which he alluded to the “unaffordable increase in spending on measures to vindicate gender and feminist demands.”
Regarding the regional summit, Miras complained that there was only agreement on the condemnation of the war in Ukraine, but without specifying joint and concrete actions.
Regarding Liarte’s question, the president pointed out that “we must focus on ensuring that there are no families who are having a hard time because of runaway inflation, who do not have access to basic products, who cannot make ends meet; it is the moment to do politics with high sights».
The PSOE demands that Luengo resign or get his act together
The socialists and Podemos point out numerous breaches; while the partners of the PP defend the performance of the Ministry.
In his first report on the degree of compliance with the Mar Menor law, the councilor Antonio Luengo received harsh criticism from the PSOE and Podemos, who reproached him for taking so long to appear in the Assembly for this task, since according to the law should have done it last summer. The purple spokeswoman, María Marín, used the harshest tone, accusing the counselor of “covering up and protecting the murderers of the Mar Menor. You resign. Go away. He will go down in history as the undertaker of the Mar Menor. I hope they are paying him well for the despicable work he does.”
The socialist deputy Manuel Sevilla demanded that Luengo resign “or get his act together.” He accused the PP of generating the ecological crisis and, like Podemos, highlighted the breaches, such as the fact that the Mar Menor Council has not yet been constituted, nor has the figure of environmental operators been created. He also criticized the low budget execution. Both parties brought up the sentence of the TSJ that indicates that it is the competence of the regional government to demand responsibilities from offending and polluting companies. Another reason they put forward to demand Luengo’s resignation. Seville considered “a chaos” that the Ministry “has paralyzed 2,400 files.”
The deputy Ana Martínez Vidal accused the Executive of “appearing to do something after the setback of the TSJ.” “There are actions that should have been launched years ago.”
Juan José Liarte said that citizens “want to see the results.” He pointed out that there are positive measures for livestock and pointed out that the opposition’s “mantra” is wearing thin. He believes that responsibilities must be demanded, although he considers it more important to restore the damaged spaces.
Francisco Álvarez, from Ciudadanos, indicated that it is “a state problem.” “It should be a source of pride to have a law that helps the ecosystem and the associated economy.”
The PP deputy Jesús Cano stressed that López Miras is complying, and criticized that the Executive of Pedro Sánchez has been “1,350 days without acting.” “There is not a single work with the seal of the central government.”
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