The president will meet by videoconference with the Environment Commissioner after not being able to travel to Brussels due to the health situation
The president of the Community, Fernando López Miras, today has an appointment with the European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevicius, with the aim of analyzing the situation of the Mar Menor and requesting support from the European Commission for the regeneration of the salty lagoon.
The meeting was to be held in Brussels, where the chief executive had planned to travel yesterday. However, the situation of the pandemic, with the uncontrolled infections throughout Europe, discourages the displacement of López Miras, so the meeting will take place by videoconference.
The Lithuanian politician visited the Mar Menor in September, when he offered scientific assistance and community funds
According to sources from the regional government, the president will present to the European commissioner the latest news on the situation of the Mar Menor, mainly the investment of 85 million euros contemplated in the Community Budgets for 2022, still pending in the Assembly, and the monitoring system that allows to know permanently the state of the ecosystem.
Likewise, López Miras intends to make Virginijus Sinkevicius see that only with the collaboration between all political instances will it be possible to advance “in the search for effective and definitive solutions for an environmental emergency that goes beyond the regional scope, and that also concerns Spain and Europe as a whole “, according to sources from the Executive.
Citizens deliver to Sinkevicius a study on the low budget execution of the regional government
Today’s meeting was arranged on September 21, 2021, when the European Commissioner for the Environment visited the Mar Menor to learn about the environmental problem ‘in situ’. “We must learn so that tragedies like this are not repeated,” he declared then, to later show the willingness of the EU to offer scientific assistance and funds to the Region.
The Lithuanian politician and López Miras agreed to hold a face-to-face meeting in Brussels, which will finally be held by telematic means due to the health situation.
The Cs Report
In any case, Sinkevicius will attend the videoconference with López Miras after receiving a report from Ciudadanos in which he asks him to withdraw European funding for the Mar Menor from the regional government, redirecting it to the riverside municipalities.
The liberal party has sent a document with detailed data on “the reckless execution under 10% of projects with European funding.” “In the report the numerous budgetary irregularities of the regional government are detailed to ‘pretend’ that it is concerned about the Mar Menor while the level of budget execution in 2021 remained at a scandalous 14%,” said the regional coordinator of Cs, María José Ros.
“In addition, execution drops even 10% in relation to projects with European funding, which is especially serious for us. With the PP in the regional government and its disastrous management, the Mar Menor will die, “he said.
Cs has asked Commissioner Sinkevicius’s team to demand “clear explanations” from López Miras at their next meeting about this “inexplicably reduced execution of projects with European funding.”
As an example, Cs puts the green filters, with more than 16 million euros without executing in the last two years.
.