The tug-of-war over the plan to reform the law on irrigation in Andalusia, which affects the Doñana National Park, continues in Brussels, where the European People’s Party charged the European Commission for, in its opinion , “campaigning” for Pedro Sánchez’s socialists a month before the 28-M elections with this issue. “I have to be very clear: we see the commissioner [of Environment] in a red shirt to campaign for Sánchez instead of presenting himself as someone who is looking for solutions”, remarked the leader of the EPP, the German Manfred Weber.
The reply of the commissioner who was the target of popular criticism, the Lithuanian Virginijus Sinkevicius, did not take long to arrive. He assured that he tells all those with whom he has met that “the Commission acts as an impartial guardian of the treaty” and that “the application of the sentence is a priority”.
In the morning, the leader of the social democratic group, Iratxe GarcÃa, had an interview with the vice-president of the community body, Frans Timmermans, in charge of the European Green Pact, and with the Environment Commissioner. In the afternoon, Sinkevicius received the spokesperson of the PP in the Eurochamber, Dolors Montserrat, and the MEP Juan Ignacio Zoido. In the subsequent appearances, one and the other crossed accusations about how to execute the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (TJUE) which requires the protection of the Guadalquivir wetland.
GarcÃa asked that the proposed law that the popular people, with the president of the Junta de AndalucÃa, Juanma Moreno, lead, be stopped urgently, because “it endangers the viability and the future of one of the ecosystems most important of the European Union”.
For her part, the third vice-president of the Central Government and Minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, charged at the last minute against “the irresponsibility of the PP and its attempt to deceive society and the European institutions in order to hide this environmental attack”.
On the contrary, the leader of the Spanish delegation of the PP, who was accompanied by Weber, pointed out that in their meeting “the only thing” that the commissioner communicated to them was that “the sentence must be carried out and that it is responsibility of the Government of Spain”.
Likewise, Montserrat denied that the Environment Commissioner had conveyed to him the concern of the Community Executive that the proposed law of the Junta d’Andalusi goes “in the opposite direction” to what the sentence dictated, as warned recently.
Montserrat took advantage of the appointment to convey the unease of the popular group that “at a time of electoral campaign” the European Commission “can be used”. “We see partisan movements, we are in an electoral campaign. We need calm and quiet (…) We ask the Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, to stop with her arrogance of attacking the Junta d’Andalusia”, added the popular leader.
In the same line, Weber expressed himself, who showed his “surprise” by the European Commission’s harsh response to the Andalusian bill. In addition, he called the “behavior” of Sinkevicius “unacceptable” and asked that the Community Executive act as an institution that allows “commitment” so that the Central Government and the Board sit down to find a solution .
In turn, he also charged against Frans Timmermans – social democrat – for receiving GarcÃa and not Montserrat and Zoido, even though they had requested him. “The EPP has never had an interest in politicizing the issue, only the Socialist Party has politicized it,” counterattacked the Bavarian politician.
