The Cabildo of Lanzarote has announced that seven federations of tour operators and travel agencies in Europe have sent letters to Minister José Manuel Soria, warning about the danger of oil drilling. The press conference coincided with the news published by Canarias 7, that Morocco will soon begin oil prospecting in its maritime zone. Therefore, San Ginés believes that this news is a "strategy" because "they knew about this press conference and they knew about the pronouncement of these seven countries, which the Ministry tried to avoid.".
The councils of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura now fear that Morocco's intention will "accelerate that of Spain", because "they are using it as an excuse for it". "If there were expectations of doing it here, Morocco has used them to do it", said San Ginés, while criticizing the "connivance with a government, the Spanish one, that intends to use it as an excuse to precipitate the facts".
Therefore, he praised that seven tourist federations, specifically from United Kingdom, Germany, Estonia, Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, sent a similar letter to Soria, warning of the "great impact" that drilling could generate on tourism in the Canary Islands. This initiative came from the Global Action Office of the Cabildo.
Given this support, San Ginés considers that "the news about Morocco is not news, because it has been known for a long time". At the press conference, the president of the Cabildo was accompanied by the vice president, Joaquín Caraballo, and the Minister of Culture of the Cabildo of Fuerteventura, Juan Jiménez. These political leaders have highlighted that these European federations, "responsible for 75 percent of the twelve million tourists who visit the Canary Islands each year", have addressed Soria, indicating that oil operations could generate "very negative impacts" on tourism, the environment and the lives of the Canarian population.
The first two letters were sent in 2012 and another five federations have joined this initiative between August and September of this year. "It is very important to know what the international tourism sector thinks about this", said San Ginés, who has criticized the "ambiguity" of the tourism associations of Lanzarote regarding this matter.
San Ginés has emphasized the opposition of Norway, because "it has been put as an example of compatibility between tourism and the oil industry and this is absolutely false". "Norway only explores in the North Sea, where there is no tourism. It does not do it in the fjords, because although it has potential, it has renounced it. In its writing, it states that the reputation of the Canary Islands destination could be harmed", insisted the president, who recalled that 22 of the 26 fishermen's associations of the Canary Islands have also joined this opposition.
Morocco will start prospecting
In addition, political leaders have valued the news that Morocco will start explorations in search of oil in a few weeks. The works, according to Canarias 7, would be very close to the surveys planned by Repsol in waters of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. In this regard, San Ginés has described the news as "intentional" and has indicated that if "Morocco does something on the median it will also be as a consequence of the Spanish initiative". "On the median it is impossible to do it if there is no agreement between the countries, if there is no agreement regarding international maritime law, and there is not", he stated.
Political leaders have opted for an "international call" to make known "what is happening in Moroccan waters". San Ginés "does not accept the excuse" that "if Morocco does it, why shouldn't Spain do it" since this would be "multiplying the risks" of drilling.
From the councils of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura "they will try to prevent the Spanish Government from carrying out the prospecting and that the Spanish Government in this way tries to prevent the Moroccan Government from doing so". "First, the Spanish Government has to make decisions that rectify its own", insisted San Ginés. "The risk of a spill from Moroccan prospecting would have the same effect of environmental disaster for the Canary Islands as those that Repsol may carry out. We have to make the same force", defended the Minister of Culture of Fuerteventura.
Deadline for allegations
In addition, from the councils of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura they have recalled that the deadline for allegations to the environmental impact study that the oil consortium has presented, which intends to "explore first and extract later in Canarian waters", ends on September 24. Therefore, they have made a new call for citizens to submit allegations, through models that can be obtained on the website of the councils of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.
