Where journalists are not allowed to ask questions – something that, by the way, we should stand up to – unless there are clear explanations, so that the Government in office does not confuse us. It is not such a crazy request at a time when the wait for the investiture is becoming very long and very heavy.

Vice President Yolanda Díaz may now be hurting after the lack of finesse she showed this Tuesday in the presentation of the legislative agreement with Pedro Sánchez, an extensive document with 150 “social” measures, some of which are very controversial. There is no desire to talk about amnesty?, so it is time to liven up the conversation with other lighter issues than leading to a future happy world without nuclear weapons, without airplanes that pollute and in which us workers will work fewer hours for the same salary .

There is no need to dwell on the obvious fact that all the proposals of the PSOE-Sumar pact are subject to three essential facts: that there is an investiture, that the signatories do not change their minds and that each of the measures, on the day they have to become law or regulation, are supported by other non-traditionally leftist parties, namely the nationalist PNV and Junts.

But let’s get to the topic of this article: the supposed suppression of short flights to reduce the environmental impact and that Yolanda Díaz recovered from her Modern Bed Designs. Against the trace of kerosene. The vice got messed up, she messed us up and she messed up by explaining everything wrong. It is, she said literally, about “ending short flights when there is no alternative to the train that lasts less than two and a half hours.” When what the document really says is that “we will promote the reduction of domestic flights on routes where there is a train alternative that lasts less than two and a half hours”, which is not the same. Such confusion was generated that even AENA fell on the stock market.

God forbid we give to the climate deniers! We will all agree that where there is a fast train (and emphasize, fast), get rid of the plane. But…

One, Spain is not France in rail connections. The comparison is not worth it to us. The most immediate expectations to reduce the carbon footprint come from flights (tested) in which the so-called sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is used, from fats of vegetable origin or industrial waste. agri-food. There are objectives for 2050 and various alliances between oil companies and companies point in this direction.

Two, the idea of ????cutting short flights was already raised a couple of years ago and the Official College of Aeronautical Engineers of Spain estimated that its effectiveness would be negligible. Less than 5% of the sector’s emissions come from the nearly seventy daily regional flights that they calculated would be affected.

And three, the key to the matter: it turns out that the measure agreed upon by the coalition partners could only be applied (and with doubts) on five routes with Madrid since the literal nature of the PSOE-Sumar agreement would only allow the prohibition, strictly, of flights. between Madrid and Valencia, since the journey by train does not last two hours. With Seville, Alicante, Malaga and Barcelona there are high-speed trains that barely exceed that duration, although there are also journeys that last up to three hours.

To all this, the same document establishes an exception regarding flights that connect with an airport with long-range flights. In other words, Barajas would be excluded, and there is no other airport with trains less than two and a half hours away. None, except Torrejón, from where the Falcon always flies at the disposal of the Government.