The President of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, María Dolores Corujo, has underlined the “firmness” and “legal rigor” that the Island Institution wields “to defend the interests of citizens and the powers of the Cabildo”, in its joint fight against development models that “undermine sustainability policies” defended by the progressive society of Lanzarote.
The president refers in this way "to the complete and reasoned Resolution that the Governing Council of the Cabildo of Lanzarote has just approved, where a prior request is made to the judicial review procedure to the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands, through the General Directorate of Fisheries, in relation to the procedure for granting aquaculture activity on the coast of Lanzarote, a file submitted to public information at the end of last month in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands."
As detailed by the Councilor for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Corporation, Andrés Stinga, “in this Resolution we wield the legal arguments that support the Cabildo to demand the nullity of this concession dictated by an organ manifestly incompetent in the matter; which also places the activity in a place that collides with protected natural spaces on our Island. And doing so, also, through a period of public display where the interested parties are forced to be physically present on another island to appeal such authorization”, Stinga specifies on some of the legal precepts that the Cabildo puts on the table in the prior request that has just been approved.
The executive function of the Cabildo
Regarding the file that submits to public information the project presented by the company Yaizatún, S.A., for the granting of a concession in the area of aquaculture interest located in the marine geographic area of the ZIA-LZ-2, and once the General Directorate of Fisheries has provided, at the request of the Lanzarote Cabildo, this project for the cultivation of sea bream, sea bass and Atlantic tuna in the island's waters, the Institution presided over by María Dolores Corujo warns in its prior request to the judicial channel that the Island Councils, after the reform operated in our Statute of Autonomy in 2018, participate in the autonomous executive function exercising executive functions owned by the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands.
The specification of the matters on which the Cabildos will exercise autonomous executive functions comes from its article 70.2, by virtue of which, among others, aquaculture and marine crops are related.
The Cabildo of Lanzarote argues legally in its document how the permits granted by the General Directorate of Fisheries invade the powers that the reform of the Statute granted to the Cabildos, something that meant a qualitative leap in their executive capacity. The legal arguments on the island's statutory powers in matters of aquaculture concessions conclude that the acts issued by manifestly incompetent bodies should be declared null and void by reason of the matter or the territory, as stated in the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations.
“The General Directorate of Fisheries is promoting a concession procedure in this regard that affects the island of Lanzarote, of which this Corporation has become aware through the announcement (...), as well as the Resolution issued on August 1, 2022 (...), however, the enabling title of competence that this Management Center understands assists it to issue the aforementioned act is unknown, in light of the announcement made”, the requirement approved in the Governing Council states verbatim.
The Cabildo, in short, demands to exercise its "autonomous executive function of granting concessions for the development of aquaculture activity, the competent body to issue the resolutions being the Island Government Council of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, so that the General Directorate of Fisheries of the Government of the Canary Islands is a manifestly incompetent body”.
Protected spaces and public display
The Resolution also warns about the announcement. “Natural or legal persons, public or private, who wish to access the file to formulate allegations and observations, must request an appointment and appear physically at the headquarters of the General Directorate of Fisheries, forcing the physical presence of the person at its headquarters in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to examine the documents. This “constitutes a violation of the legal system in matters of electronic Administration and the relationship of citizens with the Administration, preventing said public information procedure from fulfilling its purpose (…). We are also faced with a defect that determines the invalidity of the act object of this requirement for incurring a violation of the legal system that, although not in itself determining absolute nullity, prevents the aforementioned act from satisfying its purpose, which is none other than allowing effective, simple, clear and close access for citizens”, the document states.
On the other hand, as the current island government group has defended on numerous occasions, a certainty shared by Lanzarote social agents, this project collides with protected natural spaces because, among other things, it coincides with the delimitation made of the Site of Community Importance (SCI) of the Natura 2000 Network of the ESZZ15002 Marine Area of the East and South of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. The requirement recalls that the mandatory Assessment of Repercussions on the Space has not been carried out; “and the existence of the preventive regime arising from the processing of the SCI has not even been taken into account.”
In addition, the ZIA LZ-2 where the aquaculture concession procedure is processed coincides with the Special Canary Zone (ZEC) of the Sebadales de Guasimeta (ES7010021), which together with the Sebadales de La Graciosa (ZEC ES7010020) constitute the only special conservation areas of seagrass beds in Lanzarote.
Precautionary suspension of the concession
The Cabildo of Lanzarote defends, therefore, that the actions for the concession of aquaculture activity on the island coast “incur in cause of radical nullity for having completely and absolutely dispensed with the due procedure”.
The Governing Council has authorized President María Dolores Corujo to formulate the prior request, which will be understood to be rejected if, within the month following its receipt, the requested party does not answer it.
And finally, the Cabildo will also require the suspension of the actions, on a precautionary basis, until the nullity of the same is declared in attention to the requirement, taking into account that this requirement “constitutes the legal figure established by the legal system for relations between Public Administrations, replacing the figure of the administrative appeal”, the document clarifies.
