The most serious DANA of the century in Spain has made the Balearic Islands react. The popular Government of Marga Prohens announced last week that it has “reflected” after the tragedy in Valencia and will not allow construction in flood-prone areas. But to do this it needs to reach an agreement with all parliamentary groups to present an amendment to the Administrative Simplification Law. Consensus has not yet been reached and the Government has agreed to postpone the vote on the modification of the regulations, which was initially scheduled for the plenary session of the Parliament this Tuesday.
The Balearic president, Marga Prohens, has said it loud and clear: “If we have to wait a week to reach a consensus, we will do it”. “We are a Government that likes to listen, take note and correct and that is why we are going to be even more guaranteeing,” he assured.
Prohens, that hopes to reach “the greatest possible consensus” with opposition groupsalso explained during the signing of the road investment protocol with the Consell de Mallorca, that the regional Executive proposes three modifications to the decree law, including the prohibition of building in flood-prone areas.
At the same time, Prohens has highlighted that the Government is working on the development of action protocols for citizens who already live in flood-prone areas, in order to improve communication channels and coordination of the different administrations involved in an emergency situation.
In this sense, the regional president has indicated that the residents who live in these areas, which number around 150,000 people, must be aware that from the end of August to November the storms will be “more recurrent and extreme.”
“The Valencia tragedy challenges us all, also what has been done in recent years, and we must be aware that These extreme phenomena are going to be more and more frequent“, he declared.
On the other hand, the deputy spokesperson of the PP in the Parliament, Marga Durán, has reported that this Tuesday before the plenary session, a meeting of the Parliamentary Board will be held to vote to withdraw this regulation from the agenda of the session that will occur next.
Durán has assured that before the full vote on the 2025 Autonomous Budgets, which would close the 2024 session period, there will be four or five plenary sessions and it will be debated whether this legislation can be raised to plenary session again in the sessions of the following week or the one after that.
An “insufficient” proposal
This script twist occurs after the PSIB, MÉS per Mallorca, Més per Menorca and Unidas Podemos have requested a postponement of the vote, considering the Government’s proposal “ineffective and insufficient.”
In a joint statement, all opposition groups have proposed postponing the vote to “gain time” to negotiate on an issue that they consider fundamental to protect citizens.
Given the proposal made by the Government of Marga Prohens, which allows the construction of equipment in risk areas and legalizes economic activities on rural land, left-wing groups have warned that “they will not accept any reduction in the prohibition” to build in flood zones.
For this reason, they call on the Balearic Government to commit to “a real negotiation” that allows achieving the objective of protecting citizens in the face of possible dangerous situations, after the tragedies of Valencia and Sant Llorenç.
The opposition demands that buildings located in areas at risk of flooding be excluded from the “urban amnesty” on rural land and that new developable land cannot be classified within flood zones. Besides calls for a total ban on new construction and the changes in the use of commercial basements for housing in dangerous areas that the current PP legislation allows.
Also, They propose eliminating the possibility of creating public facilities and prohibit any action on buildings outside the planning of flood risk areas.
Any attempt by the Government to lower these six proposals, the opposition parties have warned, “would not be acceptable when agreeing on an issue for which citizens demand high-mindedness and the capacity for consensus.”
Vox, next to the Government
Finally, Vox explained this Monday that it will remain “at the side of the Government” of Marga Prohens in its proposal to modify the Administrative Simplification law.
The parliamentary spokesperson for Vox, Manuela Cañadas, stated in a press conference that does not believe that “there is anyone, no person or politician, who is going to risk to build in a potentially floodable area”, even less so after the “catastrophe” in Valencia, as a result of DANA. Therefore, he has reiterated that Vox will be “at the side of the Government” in this case.
“What happened in Valencia has made everyone reconsider, in the end we have to understand, not to do populism, or demagoguery, or bring in the climate religion, to which everyone appeals, that the cold drop and floods are everyday life. for many years in the entire eastern part of the peninsula,” he stated.
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