Zaragoza (EFE).- Izquierda Unida has asked the European anti-fraud office to investigate a possible conflict of interest in the project to unite the Formigal and Astún ski resorts in the area of Canal Roya, in the Pyrenees Aragonese, promoted by the regional Executive and which would be financed with European funds.
This was announced this Monday by the general coordinator of the party in the Community, Álvaro Sanz, and the MEP of the political formation Sira Rego, at a press conference.
“IU has registered a document within the scope of the European anti-fraud office in which we state that how this project is being managed may give rise to a conflict of interest that is susceptible to investigation by the office,” he said. Sanz.
In this sense, he has reported that these funds for tourism sustainability were requested from Europe in December by the Diputación de Huesca and that an agreement was signed in January that made it clear that the project will require “the participation of private companies”. , that is, Aramon. This company is 50% owned by the Government of Aragon and 50% by Ibercaja and manages, among others, the Formigal ski resort.
Gastón is Aramon’s “worker”
The also deputy in the Cortes has reported that the Minister of Economy of Aragon, Marta Gastón, is president of Aramón “by reason of her position” and “worker” of this company, in a context in which the Formigal station was the that requested the declaration of the Plan of General Interest of Aragon (PIGA) of the project.
Sanz recalled that this PIGA was approved “despite an unfavorable report” from the regional government’s Territory Planning General Directorate and that, in parliament, Gastón, who is “a worker on leave of absence from another of the partners”, stated that the project “is going to be carried out” and that “there is no going back”.
For this reason, he stressed that IU finds it “at least reckless to make these statements”, in addition to “a lack of transparency” and “rigor in management”.
In this sense, the coordinator of the party in Aragon has pointed out as “a possible situation of conflict of interest” the fact that “the president of the same company that is going to promote the PIGA is, in some way, the one that authorizes that PIGA ”, in addition to being “one of the firm and most belligerent promoters of this project”, in reference to Gastón.
That is to say, for Sanz it happens “by chance that the people who are both in the field of private companies by reason of their position and in the Government of Aragon, within the framework of the departments involved, are the same”.
A “deep” investigation is needed
“In our opinion, there are more than well-founded facts for an in-depth investigation to clarify possible cases of incompatibility to the last consequences,” he added.
On this matter, he explained that, taking into account that it is a project that will raise the management of European funds, “it must be raised to an inspection and control body such as the anti-fraud office, because there may be a conflict of important interest.
Rego has affirmed that from Izquierda Unida they believe “that the use of these funds to develop projects that have nothing to do with sustainability is a real outrage.”
Thus, the MEP has explained that they have transferred to the European anti-fraud office “the possible conflict of interest that could arise” in this project as it is “judge and party”.
Rego has reported that this office manages a period of approximately two months to consider whether or not to admit the IU request for processing and that, if it does, the usual procedure in these cases usually has 12 months of investigation.
“We, in any case, have asked for the possibility of precautionary measures to stop the project,” he stressed.
In addition, he has indicated that in IU they are willing “to use all the instruments” at their disposal “to prevent this project from being built” and to protect the area of Canal Roya.
Lambán is not afraid that the project will be paralyzed
The President of the Government of Aragon, Javier Lambán, for his part, has assured that he is not afraid that the project of the union of the ski resorts of Formigal and Astún by Canal Roya will be paralyzed because of the complaint presented by IU.
In statements to the media, Lambán has assured that his government is “absolutely clear” that there is “no conflict of interest” in the project. And he has added that his executive “is not acting in an improvised and frivolous manner” and that all the steps that are being taken “have full legal guarantees” and “they will continue to have them.”
But above all, the station union project has “full guarantees of respect for the environment”. What they want to do in the Pyrenees, Lambán added, “is not any kind of atrocity, quite the contrary, it is a way of consolidating an economic model that will allow the mountain to have life and activity.”
But in the face of criticism received from different spheres of politics and society, the president has recognized that his government must not be doing something “very well”, because actions of this nature are being carried out in Catalonia, even on a larger scale and in natural parks with a higher degree of protection than Canal Roya, “and no one is throwing their hands up or shouting to the sky.”
“I don’t understand why here we are dedicated to shooting ourselves in the foot before a project that is environmentally sustainable”, Lambán has abounded, who insists that the visual impact of the future installation is “minimal and “reversible”.