Seville, (EFE).- The European Union (EU) has warned the Government that it will sanction Spain for the possible harmful effects of the PP and Vox proposal to expand irrigation in the area of Doñana, which it considers a “flagrant violation” of the judgment of the European Court of Justice.
The Director General for the Environment of the European Union, Florika Fink-Hooijer, has sent a letter to the Spanish Government requesting that, within a maximum period of one month, they explain and clarify how they have ensured that the irrigation improvement plan in the Corona Norte de Doñana will not produce detrimental consequences in the protected areas of the park.
He recalls, as reported by Cadena SER, that already in January 2022 he transmitted to the Spanish authorities his “concern and astonishment” at the risk that a similar proposal posed for the execution of the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union, which “still remains unfulfilled”.
Florika Fink-Hooijer defends measures such as increased control and inspection that ensure the closure and sealing of all illegal wells that persist in the park’s surroundings and even proposes financing, through the Recovery and Resilience mechanism, projects for digitalization and the measurement of water abstractions in Doñana.
2021 ruling
“If the processing of this proposal prospers in the terms that have been announced, it would be producing a flagrant violation of the provisions of the judgment of the Court of Justice” of the EU, he says in the letter on irrigation in Doñana.
In this sense, it warns that the Commission would take into consideration the “adoption of all the necessary measures, including the filing of a new appeal before the Court of Justice in which it would request that pecuniary sanctions be imposed”.
In addition, it urges the execution of the judgment of the Court of Justice of June 2021 to protect the natural values of Doñana and maintains that the approval of the Popular Party’s bill of March 3, “would significantly aggravate the situation of the masses of water and the protected areas of Doñana”.
The EU also argues that the continued overexploitation of the aquifer “seriously threatens” the viability of economic activity in the region, especially irrigated crops. EFE