The Cortes of Aragon voted this Thursday against a possible transfer of Ebro waters to Catalan lands. In the first plenary session of the year, the majority of groups in the regional chamber positioned themselves against any type of transfer of funds to other communities, including neighboring Catalonia, from where different voices have suggested possible connections in recent weeks (Camp de Tarragona with the Barcelona metropolitan network or ‘mini transfer’ to Priorat) due to the lack of water.
But the rejection of the transfer did not translate into an image of unity. In an angry plenary session full of reproaches, the Chamber considered up to four non-law proposals against the Ebro transfer, of which two were rejected (Chunta and PSOE) and two others approved (Partido Aragonés and PP-Vox).
The latter, which was limited to rejecting the Generalitat’s proposal to “take water” from the Ebro basin for new irrigation in Catalonia, is the only one of the four that had the favor of the extreme right, which distanced itself from the rest. of parties with his speech about the need to achieve a national hydrological pact.
Shortly before, its national leader, Santiago Abascal, had criticized that the fault for not connecting Spain’s basins to transfer water lies with “the left, separatism and the autonomist right.” With this last term he was referring precisely to the president of Aragón, Jorge Azcón, the only baron of the PP who has opposed the repeated transfer demands of other party colleagues such as the presidents of Valencia (Carlos Mazón), Juanma Moreno (Andalusia) or Fernando López Miras (Murcia).
From the popular ranks, they once again insisted that “there is not enough water in Aragon” and charged against the use of the Ebro and the possible transfer in the political negotiations of the Government of Pedro Sánchez with the independentists of Junts. “They seek the independence of the Ebro in the Catalan section,” said their spokesman, Fernando Ledesma.
Furthermore, the popular one assured that “what the PSOE-Aragón says regarding the transfer is worth nothing, because it has stopped belonging to the ‘Sanchosfera'”, in reference to the notorious disagreements between the socialist leadership in Madrid and the regional branch led by Javier Lambán.
For their part, the socialists reproached the PP for the position in favor of the transfer of the Ebro that former president José María Aznar maintained during his mandates and the recent statements by the presidents of Valencia, Murcia and Andalusia in favor of transferring funds. “They are a transfer party that puts the future of Aragon at risk,” said socialist Marcel Iglesias.
The only parties that put aside any difference to support the four non-law proposals were the parliamentarians of Aragón-Teruel Exist and the PAR in pursuit of what they consider the highest objective: opposing any transfer.
