The Diplomat
The European Commission warned yesterday that the bill introduced by PP-A and Vox in the Andalusian regional parliament to regularize irrigation in the natural environment “could degrade the protected wetland of Doñana” and goes against a judgment of the High Court of Justice (CJEU) on this issue, so Brussels will use “all means” to protect compliance with “EU environmental legislation”.
This was stated by the European Commissioner for the Environment, Virginijus Sinkevicius (quoted by a spokesman), after receiving the Andalusian Minister of Sustainability, Environment and Blue Economy, Ramon Fernández-Pacheco, who traveled to Brussels to expose the “truth” about this bill. As the counselor later declared to the press, this law “in no way harms the Doñana aquifer” because it is not based “on the water of Doñana”, which “is for the Natural Park”, but on the use of water that “would always come on the surface through a transfer that the Government of Spain promised by law in 2018, and whose infrastructure has not even begun”.
According to a community spokesman, Adalbert Jahnz, Sinkevicius moved to Fernández-Pacheco that “the Commission is deeply concerned because the proposed Andalusian legislation, if approved as proposed, could degrade the protected wetland of Doñana, one of the largest in Europe and of utmost importance for the coherence of the Natura 2000 Network”.
In the Commissioner’s opinion, the law could go against the CJEU ruling of June 2021, in which Spain was condemned for not respecting the Water Framework Directive and the Habitats Directive in the Doñana wetland. According to the same sources, “the measures taken so far by Spain to address the breaches declared by the Court of Justice are not sufficient, even without the likely negative impact of the proposed regulation, which seems to go in the opposite direction”.
Therefore, “if the Andalusian Parliament’s bill were to succeed, it would be a flagrant violation of the judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU” and, in such a case, “the Commission would take into consideration the adoption of all necessary measures, including a new appeal to the CJEU in which they would request economic sanctions”.
The European Commission also warned the Junta that “there is strong evidence that intensive agriculture and nearby tourist resorts are linked to the drying up or reduction of ponds in Doñana, demonstrating that current levels of groundwater exploitation are unsustainable and require urgent action to control abstractions.”
According to the Commissioner, and in response to the arguments of the Board, the proposed law does affect the wetland, “even though it is only surface water”. In these circumstances, Brussels continued, the draft law would create “a favorable legal framework for the recognition of stormwater use rights and surface water use rights that would add to the excessive pressure on already overexploited groundwater bodies.”
Commissioner Sinkevicius assured that he is aware “of the importance of irrigation for the local economy,” but “EU legislation requires sustainable water use and conservation of protected sites, for the benefit of all water users and all users of ecosystem services, especially in the current climate of severe water stress.”
“Doñana’s exceptional natural values must be preserved, as they are important for Andalusia, Spain and the EU as a whole. Further deterioration in the status of groundwater bodies is likely to have disastrous effects on the conservation of the fragile wetland ecosystems of Doñana, one of the EU’s biodiversity hotspots,” EU sources added.
