The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has endorsed today through her spokesperson the actions of the European Commissioner for the Environment, Virginijus SinkeviÄius, on Doñana, who was accused yesterday by the leader of the European People’s Party, Manfred Weber, and the leader of the ranks of the PP in the Eurochamber, Dolor Montserrat, to “campaign” in favor of the Government of Pedro Sánchez for his criticism of the proposed law on irrigation that the Andalusian Parliament is debating.
“President Von der Leyen has confidence in all the members of her college of commissioners,” her spokesman, Eric Mamer, stressed to questions from the press at the community executive’s daily press conference. “We never react to statements by political leaders but what we can say is that, here, the European Commission is managing the dossier on the basis of Community legislation and the judgments of the Court of Justice, and it strictly abides by its role. institutional”, added Mamer.
The reaction comes hours after popular Europeans launched an unprecedented attack on the role of the European Commission from the European Parliament. After meeting with Commissioner SinkeviÄius to talk about Doñana, the leader of the PP ranks denounced “partisan movements” and suggested that, “at a time of electoral campaign” the Commission may be “used”. Weber was even harsher: ” We see the commissioner with a red shirt to campaign for Sánchez and not presenting himself as someone who seeks solutions,” launched the German conservative, who extended suspicions to the whole of the ‘Von der Leyen Commission’.
Shortly after, the European commissioner defended himself through his Twitter account, where he recalled that he has met with all the actors involved, from the Government and the opposition, because “Doñana is important for Spain and for the EU”. His message, he said, has been the same to all: “The European Commission acts as an impartial guardian of the treaties and the implementation of the judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU is a priority.” Moments later, the third vice president of the Government, Teresa Ribera, lamented on the same social network the “irresponsibility” of the EPP and the PP, which she accused of “trying to deceive” Spanish society and the European institutions to “hide this environmental attack “.
The community services wrote to the Government in March to warn that the bill being debated by the Andalusian parliament that would allow new irrigated hectares to be legalized in the vicinity of the park goes “in the opposite direction” to the 2021 ruling and warned that they will use all the means at their disposal, including asking for the imposition of fines on Spain for not complying with their verdict. This Monday, Commissioner SinkeviÄius elaborated on this notice in a lengthy statement published after his meeting with the Andalusian Minister of the Environment, Ramón Fernández-Pacheco, in which he warned that the initiative of the PP and Vox would have “disastrous effects” for this fragile ecosystem . “The Commission is deeply concerned by the proposed legislation in Andalusia. If approved, it would degrade the protected wetlands of Doñanaâ€.
Brussels lives with manifest discomfort the high political voltage that the dossier has acquired when there is barely a month left for the municipal and regional elections in Spain. Far from abating, yesterday the controversy escalated with Weber’s unusual accusations against the community executive, which take the controversy to inter-institutional terrain by calling into question the impartiality of the Commission in the application of European legislation. “It is a legal process strictly framed in the treaties,” the spokesman for the Environment stressed today, trying to clear up any suspicions.
