“It is not a question of making transfers, which can only be a solution for a given moment, but of having a long-term vision and being more self-sufficient to provide ourselves with more water when necessary, maintaining the resilience of our hydrographic basins with a vision and taking into account biological ecosystems and aquifers”. This is how Meritxell Serret, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Union, summarized yesterday in Alicante the position of the Generalitat of Catalonia regarding the water policy to be followed in the fight against drought.
Serret, who starred in a conference-colloquium organized by Casa del Mediterráneo, under the title “the Catalan commitment to a Mediterranean macro-region”, thus responded to one of the questions from the media who attended the event. In reference to the serious drought that Catalonia is experiencing, he explained that the Government, competent in the management of internal basins, is looking for formulas to expand water production and ensure supply throughout the territory. “Today, 55% of the water that reaches homes comes from desalination plants and regeneration plants,” he said.
Regarding the Mediterranean Corridor, Serret assured that it has long been a top priority for Catalonia and showed the absolute willingness of the Catalan government to continue “adding alliances to make it a reality as soon as possible.”
During her speech, the councilor celebrated that the Mediterranean macro-region is among the priorities of the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Spanish presidency began to promote the issue.
Currently, he explained, the strategy has the explicit support of the Spanish and Italian states. We work closely with the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions, the origin of the initiative, and have promoted a platform “Friends of the Mediterranean Macroregion” to which the communities of the Spanish Mediterranean and others such as Occitania, Corsica, Calabria or Tuscany join. .
“It is a broad platform that also includes important cities and that is intended to be expanded with economic actors such as Chambers of Commerce and others,” Serret added; “a European strategy that covers the entire Mediterranean is necessary to form a common front against the challenge of climate change.”
The councilor believes it is imperative to improve governance at different levels and involve the different actors in the Mediterranean at the state, regional and municipal levels of the entire basin. “We want to align strategies and be more efficient, also providing ourselves with the different European funds and programs to boost cooperation spaces on the European Mediterranean shore, but also opening cooperation with the rest of the Mediterranean countries.”
The local authorities of the PP, very critical of the event, did not attend the event. On the other hand, numerous current and former PSPV officials gathered, such as the municipal spokesperson, Ana Barceló, the former councilor Josefina Bueno, and other prominent members of the party, such as Trini Amorós, Miguel Millana or Ángel Franco.
