The Minister of Environment of the Cabildo, Elena Solís, has assured on Radio Lanzarote – Onda Cero that she “complies with the law” by issuing a negative report for the celebration of the Isla de Los Volcanes Rally, and even blames the organization for not submitting the requests “with much more anticipation”.
Solís argues that in the Cabildo “times count”, and that the Department of Environment received the request “on February 7”. “At that moment I have to ask another administration to process the possible affectation to the birds, and I have no choice but to do what I have to do, because otherwise I would be prevaricating”, says the minister, who assures that she has "90 days to respond".
“We received the report from the Government of the Canary Islands on April 18, and I have no power to decide, because I do not authorize, I only issue a favorable or unfavorable report on the activity” explains Solís, thus answering the question of why, if it was known that it could affect the bird nesting season, the decision was not made to postpone the Rally to other dates.
“The organizers were not used to following the normal processes that the law says in relation to this type of activities. In Gran Canaria they have authorization that goes from 5 to 6 months, and I have verified it because I was worried about the file, because I cannot stop procedures on a whim”, adds Solís.
In addition, she emphasizes that her department “does not own the file”, but that it is owned by the Classified Activities department, and that even other departments of the Cabildo “also issued unfavorable reports on the route of the Rally”. “Classified Activities is the one who had to have decided whether or not, given the dates, the suspension should have been given”, says the minister.
“We are going to have to share the responsibility with the organizers, who have to do things with sufficient anticipation and form”, she points out.
Solís had “two meetings” to try to “solve what could not be solved”
The Minister of Environment assures that she held two meetings with the organizers to propose a solution so that the Rally could be held. “We proposed changing several routes, but it was impossible to change them”, she assures.
“I told them that we could ask for another report from the Government of the Canary Islands, which arrived in a few days, but that the probability was low given the affectation to 86 species of flora and fauna in the rest of the routes of five municipalities, as it happened”, explains Solís.
The minister assures that despite those meetings, “the organizer made the decision to go ahead”. “That is the real situation in my department, so I would tell the organizers publicly that next time they give us at least four months”, reiterates Solís.
“We are on an extremely fragile island, not all activities can be allowed. It is not fair because if there is a highly impacting activity, no matter how many followers it has, I have to have enough time to know if I can or cannot do activities”, adds Solís.
“It is not prohibiting for the sake of prohibiting”, says Solís, who also points out that in the case of the IRONMAN, which is held every year in Lanzarote and which brings together numerous international athletes, they have submitted the permits on time. “It is an activity that they submit the requests with many months in advance, so there will be no problem”, she assures.
A department “on the verge of collapse” and with sick leaves “due to depression and anxiety”
Elena Solís has emphasized on Radio Lanzarote that they have “up to 400” files to assess, in a department that she assures is “on the verge of collapse”.
“We are working in a surreal way. We have only one person on staff and we cannot resolve all the files. There are people on sick leave due to depression and anxiety, I have no one, but a lawyer to deal with all these issues”, explains the minister.
Solís assures that the situation in the department is “desperate”, and that the only thing she can promise is “a rationalization in the next three months”, only if “they give her the tools”.
In addition, she points out that all citizens “have the right to legal certainty”. “They may think that the general interest is the Rally, but another person who has been in La Geria for four years to fix the roof of their house, also has the right”, points out Solís.
