The Government of the Canary Islands will assume by subrogation the powers of the Island Water Council for the initial approval of the island's Hydrological Plan and the Special Flood Management Plan for the period 2021-2027, according to President Oswaldo Betancort.
“Now, and because of my status as a regional parliamentarian, I have been able to verify to my surprise that the agenda of the plenary session of the Parliament of the Canary Islands on September 12 and 13 includes this issue,” says Betancort.
The Island Hydrological Plans for the first and second cycles were approved by the Government of the Canary Islands through decrees of 2015 and 2018. Therefore, according to the European Water Framework Directive, it was necessary to proceed with the second revision of the Island Hydrological Plan of Lanzarote of the third cycle (2021-2027), whose revision should have been approved and published before December 22, 2022.
From the Cabildo they explain that "on March 27, 2023, the letter from the General Directorate of Territorial Planning and Water of the Government of the Canary Islands entered the Cabildo de Lanzarote and the Island Water Council, communicating that the subrogation procedure was initiated and that they were granted 10 business days to present allegations."
"Faced with this letter, neither the Cabildo nor the Island Water Council responded, which has led to the fact that on May 25, three days before the Autonomous and Local Elections, the Government met and, outside the agenda, approved the subrogation by the Government of the Canary Islands - through the Ministry of Ecological Transition - of the powers of the Island Water Council for the Elaboration of the Island Hydrological Plan in the period of the third cycle, between 2021 and 2027 and of the Special Management and Flood Plan, Second Cycle 2021-2027, of the Hydrographic Demarcation of Lanzarote", they affirm from the First Institution.
“It is a pity that the previous Government group did not understand each other even with their own party, since it was their socialist colleagues who asked them to present allegations, and they did not even answer them, which, without a doubt, is evidence of what were four years at war with arms crossed,” considers Oswaldo Betancort.
The European Commission opens infringement proceedings against Spain
The Cabildo affirms that "as a result of this lack of diligence, the European Commission, among other administrations, initiated infringement proceedings against Spain on February 15, 2023, according to investigations carried out by the president as a deputy for the island of Lanzarote."
"Said file was opened due to non-compliance with article 13, section 7, of Directive 2000/60 of the European Parliament, which establishes a community framework for action in the field of water with respect to hydrological plans for hydrographic demarcations, including that of Lanzarote, as well as article 14, section 3, and article 15, section 1, of the Directives of October 2007 relating to the assessment of flood risks, with respect to management plans for hydrographic demarcations, among others the ES123 of the island of Lanzarote", they add.
The Cabildo points out that "in fact, to further confirm the irresponsibility of the Cabildo de Lanzarote in the Dolores Corujo stage, in the summer of 2021 the initial version of the Hydrological Plan of Lanzarote, its third cycle, and the initial version of the Flood Risk Management Plan, second cycle, was submitted to public information, but the Cabildo de Lanzarote did not carry out any management in this regard."
“It must be that on those dates the previous president of the Cabildo was on vacation and did not process the consolidated documents before the environmental body for analysis, in order to obtain the Strategic Environmental Declaration,” laments Betancort.
“The seriousness of the actions of the previous island government also leaves us without the possibility of recovering these powers, at least as far as these matters are concerned,” says the highest authority of the Cabildo de Lanzarote and regional deputy.
