ERC has requested in writing the appearance in the Climate Action Commission of the Parliament of the Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Rivera, and of three former senior officials of CiU when they were in the Government and who now work for the private company Forestalia, in charge of the construction of the three very high voltage lines (MAT) that affect 74 Catalan municipalities and run 338 kilometers from Aragon, the Bajo Cinca-Pierola line, the Valmuel-Begues line and the Laluenga-Isona line,
The Republicans, opposed to the construction of lines that have unfavorable impact reports from the Government of the Generalitat, have denounced the connivance of the PSC and Junts with this project, implying that they are on the side of the “oligopolies” instead of being on the side “of the people”. They do so a few days before the plenary session on energy is held in Parliament, promoted precisely by socialists and post-convergents.
The underlying issue is once again the situation of renewable energies in Catalonia. All parties agree on the delay that the region is dragging in the production of this type of energy due to a clear inaction of the Government of the Generalitat for more than a decade.
The Executive of Pere Aragonès has tried to give impetus to this sector in Catalonia and on the occasion of the balance of the two years of the approval of the decree law for the deployment of renewable energies, the president stuck out his chest this Wednesday for what was achieved in that period: 1,600 megawatts (MW) of wind and solar compared to 9 in the previous decade. These are progresses favored by the approval of the last two budgets of the Generalitat – the last ones with the help of the PSC – and the arrival of European funds. However, the goal of achieving 50% green energy in 2030 and climate neutrality in 2050 is still a long way off.
As long as the production of renewables in Catalonia is not sufficient, it is necessary to transport that energy from Aragon, which leads this segment with 13% of the renewable generation in Spain. And Forestalia, a private company based in the neighboring region, has obtained permission from the central government, not without conditions, for the construction of high-voltage lines in Catalonia that will transport that energy.
PSC and Junts want to take advantage of the parliamentary weakness of the Government and the poor situation of Catalonia in this segment to further discredit Aragonès’ management in next week’s monographic plenary session, as they will do in another monographic plenary session on security, which is why ERC tries to hit back by taking advantage of the territorial opposition generated by these projects. The construction of these lines has been rejected by various city councils, and some of them, from ERC, have spoken out from the Parliament against the project.
ERC seeks the Parliament’s rejection of these constructions and in a press conference from the Catalan Chamber, the republican spokesperson Marta Vilalta, called on the rest of the parliamentary forces “with which we share a model” to join the requests for appearance. . “We want to know if the PSC and Junts are on the side of the oligopolies or the people. We want to know who the PSOE serves and what good the PSC is if it cannot convince the PSOE to stop it,” said Vilalta.
Although ERC is aware that Minister Rivera has the right not to go to Parliament, they want to put the PSC and Junts in the spotlight through the three former leaders who now work for Forestalia: the former Minister of Medi Environment Felip Puig, the former Minister of Agriculture Josep Grau, and the former Director of Energy of the Generalitat Pere Palacín. The three are linked to the CiU stage in the Government, and together with them, ERC also demands the appearance of the executive president of Forestalia, Fernando Samper.
Along with the requests for appearance, ERC has registered a motion in Parliament to debate in the next plenary session in which it denounces that these private MAT lines are contrary to the “sovereign, democratized and with balance and territorial complicity” renewable energy model that it intends. the Government and demands from the central Government “respect and institutional loyalty with the Generalitat” which in his opinion has not occurred in this matter, after Minister Ribera has given her approval to the projects despite the unfavorable reports from the Government
The Republicans propose that the Catalan Executive undertake “all necessary administrative and legal measures” to stop the projects with the aim of “defending the interests” of Catalans and “guaranteeing the development of a fairer and more distributed energy model.” ”.
For now, the Government of Pere Aragonès has already announced that it will appeal the authorization of the Laluenga-Isona line, the last one that the State has authorized in Catalonia.
