Is it the top of the mountain that marks the border between the two countries? What if it turns out to be a plateau? So do you divide the half for each one? But if there is a stream? Is it the channel that marks the division? These are the questions, still unanswered, that this week have sown discord on the border between Spain and Andorra. Specifically, at the top of La Tossa, a mountain that touches 3,000 meters in the Alt Pirineu Natural Park of the Lleida Pyrenees and in which the Principality is building a solar park next to a ski resort.
The Generalitat of Catalonia believes that there are panels that have been installed invading around 50 meters of its territory. A spokesman for the Andorran Executive assures EL PAÍS, however, that they have not yet received any “official notification on the matter” from the Spanish Government. Also that, as soon as they found out (“through the press,” he stresses), the Foreign Minister of the Pyrenean country contacted the Spanish ambassador to “obtain all the documentation” and “clarify the issue to find out if there is any divergence.”
In parallel, the ambassador, Àngel Ros, confirmed yesterday to the Andorra newspaper that the Ministry of the Interior of Spain already “has all the information” and that “the necessary inquiries” will be made. A spokeswoman for Agents Rurals of the Generalitat explained yesterday to this newspaper that a team from the corps will travel this week to “gather information.” Although it does not clarify whether a technician from the ministry will participate in the tasks. The park is one of the major projects of the Andorran Executive to complete the transition to renewables and brings together 5,300 photovoltaic panels on an area of 22,000 meters.
The confusion and information crossed through the press between the Spanish, Catalan and Andorran governments began precisely after the report by a local media last week. A team from the local PirineusTV television, which was doing a report in the area, realized that some plates could be in the territory of the Alt Pirineu park, already in Catalan territory. And the journalists called the director of the natural park, which depends on the Generalitat, Marc Garriga.
“We checked by means of our cartography and we saw that some were in our territory,” Garriga explains to this newspaper. After checking with the maps of the Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya, the director decided to call a person in charge of the parish (as it is called) of La Massana, one of the seven territorial divisions that make up the Principality: “They told me that they had a different map and that the plates were on their land … ”.
Among so many messages crossed in high places, the mayor of Les Valls de Valira, the small town between mountains where the land is located, is surprised. “There is a lot of uproar generated by the press,” explains Ricard Mateu. The mayor prefers to be cautious and let the governments “check the cartography and then see if something needs to be done or not.” Although it does point to the possible cause of the discord: “It is a terrain that has been altered over time. It may have caused confusion. “
Along the mountain range it is common for hikers to cross borders between France, Spain and Andorra without realizing it, especially on the peaks. Shepherds adapt to customs and it is common to see cattle cross the boundaries. But the problem here, Garriga emphasizes, is that the territory is occupied by plates, since the use of the land changes. The installation also comes amid complaints from city councils against the installation of renewable parks.
On the other side of the border, a spokeswoman for La Massana does not want to hear or speak of “a diplomatic conflict.” “You have to sit down and figure it out,” he says. The same spokesperson agrees with the Andorran Executive spokesperson and assures that they have not “received any official notification” from the Spanish Government. Also that, for the moment, all the information they have is that which “has been published in the media.” The spokesperson downplays the importance and tension of the matter, and adds that a similar situation was experienced a decade ago on the same summit, then due to the construction of water tanks for a ski resort.
And then, the balance ended up tilting towards the Andorran side.
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