The Parliament of Catalonia has validated this Wednesday, with a general warning to the Government, the decree on the drought that the Executive of Pere Aragonès approved a few weeks ago. The opposition groups have reproached the Government for having first approved the measures in the Consell Executiu and then for having planned a summit with the other groups and local administrations. For this reason, PSC, Junts, CUP and comunes have abstained and have demanded that the Government modify the decree after the summit and that it agree before taking the initiatives to a vote in the Catalan Chamber. In addition, the opposition formations have forced the decree to be processed as a bill. Vox, PP and Ciudadanos have voted against. The decree has gone ahead with 34 votes in favor, 79 abstentions and 19 against.
A summit on this matter is scheduled for March 31 at the Palau de la Generalitat and during her presentation, the minister of the sector, Teresa Jordà, has opened the door to modify the current decree in a consensual manner with local entities and other formations . As the Jordà has pointed out, the drought is the “most worrying challenge” facing Catalonia in the coming months, and she has urged forging the “necessary alliances” at the summit to be held next week. “I promise to bring a new decree to advance further and better with our new consensus. Water has no flags, water is life and is the beginning of all things,” said the head of Acció Climàtica, Alimentació i Agenda Rural .
Before starting the debate, the commons had already announced in the control session that they would abstain and for days they blamed the Executive for the lack of dialogue and planning on this matter. From JxCat they also reproach the Government for not having first called a summit on water and then taking a consensual decree to Parliament. An opinion similar to that formulated by the PSC in its intervention with the deputy Sílvia Paneque.
The socialists and commoners have also valued the function of the Llobregat desalination plant that was launched in 2009, after the drought of the 2005-2008 period, and have disfigured the Executive the sanctioning regime contained in the decree . “If it weren’t for the Llobregat desalination plant, we would now be in a more serious scenario,” stressed Paneque, who has also accused the Government of “transferring responsibility” to the municipalities.
“The order is the other way around, it is debated, it is agreed and then the decree is approved. They have done it absolutely backwards. Come home agreed, and more an absolute minority government like yours,” said the Junts deputy Salvador Vergés. “We value the rectification they have made,” he concluded.
The drought in Catalonia has lasted for 29 months, in which there has not been abundant rain. This is the worst record since 1905 and the ponds are at 27%.
