The socialist deputy for Lanzarote and La Graciosa, Marcos Bergaz, demands that, after the penultimate episode of what he has described as the "soap opera" of the Renewable Energy Acceleration Zone (ZAR) of Lanzarote, a "due joint and immediate explanation" be provided by the institutions that signed it: the Canary Islands Government and the Cabildo of Lanzarote, as he has been demanding for months.
The socialist makes this claim the same day it was announced that the Cabildo has requested the suspension of the ZAR after "months of contradictions, secrecy, and a bad institutional image" regarding the protocol endorsed by the regional minister of Ecological Transition, Mariano Hernández Zapata (PP), and the president of the Cabildo, Oswaldo Betancort (CC) last July.The parliamentarian highlights that the protocol was presented and signed by both institutions, governed by Coalición Canaria (CC) and Partido Popular (PP), which they "boasted" about being "the first in the Canary Islands and that it would accelerate the implementation of renewable energies on the island," points out the deputy, "only to be incapable for months of jointly explaining the 'errors' detected in the maps that showed the land for the location of photovoltaic plants and wind farms on the island.""Neither the signatories, Betancort and Zapata, have clarified it with the same solemnity they used to ratify the Protocol; nor has the Cabildo released the 'true' agreed-upon maps, they are taking their time; nor has the full Protocol file been transferred from the Canary Islands Government as we requested four months ago," Bergaz emphasizes"That is why we speak," the deputy continues, "of secrecy and a poor institutional image, not to mention the constant contradictions over these six months, as the Canary Islands Government defends the technical rigor and consensus of the proposal, in fact maintaining that it is ready for integration into regional energy planning; while the Cabildo demands a return to planning with technical criteria and citizen participation, as well as the full legal nullity of what has been done so far."It should be recalled that the Renewable Energy Acceleration Zone covers a total of 3,163 hectares, the equivalent of 4,200 football fields, 3.75% of the island's territory for the installation of wind farms and photovoltaic plants, although it is estimated that to achieve the 2030 decarbonization objectives, the actual occupied surface area will be 0.23% of the island's surfaceFor all these reasons, the socialist deputy demands a joint explanation from the signatories, so as not to continue delving into this surreal soap opera that harms legal certainty, the good institutional image, and cooperation between two administrations that have gone half a year without clarifying what happened transparently, despite repeated requests from political and social spheres.