This Tuesday, the Constitutional Court has practically fully endorsed the Galician law on the management of the coastline of this autonomous community, which had been appealed by the Government. The ruling dismisses 70 of the 72 challenges raised in the appeal, as the Executive considered that the Xunta and the Galician Parliament had exceeded their powers, invading exclusive powers of the State that derive from the ownership of the maritime-terrestrial public domain and infringing the Coastal law and regulations.
The unconstitutionality appeal was filed on October 11 by the President of the Government against Law 4/2023, of July 6, on the Integrated Planning and Management of the Galician Coast (LOLGA). The precepts of this law were suspended by the plenary session of the Constitutional Court when the unconstitutionality appeal was admitted on November 6, 2023, with the court unanimously deciding to maintain the suspension by order issued on February 28. The Constitutional Court said it was addressing the impact of the regulation of Galician law on the maritime-terrestrial public domain.
In substance, the unconstitutionality appeal maintained that the autonomous community of Galicia could not assume these powers without modifying its Statute of autonomy. It also criticized the appealed law for regulating both the coastal management instruments and the specific uses that could be made of it, “contravening the provisions of state legislation approved by virtue of the State's power to preserve the maritime-terrestrial public domain”, established in article 132 of the Constitution.
The ruling – approved unanimously and for which Judge César Tolosa, from the conservative sector of the court, was the speaker – rules out that the autonomous community of Galicia must modify its Statute of Autonomy to grant authorizations for the use and occupation of the public domain as it is understood to include said executive function in the exclusive competence over territorial and coastal planning, established by article 27.3 of the Galician Statute of Autonomy. The ruling also rejects that the regulation of the coastal planning instruments and the specific uses that could be made therein are contrary to the provisions of the state legislation approved by virtue of the State's power to preserve the maritime-terrestrial public domain. .
The court considers that the appealed law safeguards compliance with the requirements established in the state coastal legislation and that “the state powers, as holder of the maritime-terrestrial public domain, remain unaffected, if in the specific case, the authorization or the specific plan approved would fail to comply with the legislation on costs.” Therefore, only the possibility that wastewater collection, storage, treatment and discharge systems may occupy the public maritime-terrestrial domain, and the privileged treatment of Galician vessels over other vessels, are declared unconstitutional.
On the other hand, the ruling interprets that establishments in the sea-food industry chain may occupy land in the maritime-terrestrial public domain or included in the protection easement zone only when they require the collection and return of seawater for the development of their productive or commercial processes “as long as, due to their nature, they cannot have another location in the event that the occupation is on land in the public maritime-terrestrial domain.”
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Judge María Luisa Balaguer has presented a concurring opinion – in agreement with the ruling, but with other arguments – in which she presents her opinion in relation to the insufficient scope of the statutory coverage of the autonomous jurisdiction on this matter. The vote also emphasizes the risks that some arguments in the ruling could lead, in their long-term projection, “to a lowering of environmental protection standards that should be particularly preserved in an undoubted context of climate change.” .
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