The agreement with the Cabildo to end the lawsuit of the Cueva de los Verdes was taken to the Plenary of Haría on October 29, 2016 without an economic report analyzing the convenience or not of accepting it, thus ignoring the warnings that had been made by the secretary-auditor of the City Council. This official's was also the only municipal report that was incorporated into the file and, far from being favorable, included conditions that were not met.
"Prior to the adoption of the agreement, a report from the lawyer appointed by the City Council must be incorporated into the file to serve as motivation for it, and to prove that it is not harmful to municipal interests," the auditor stated in her conclusions.
In addition, she warned that she had not been able to carry out an "adequate study" of the agreement, due to the urgency with which the report was requested, only three days before the Plenary was held. "The file and proposed agreement whose approval is sought has been sent to this intervention on October 26, 2016, requesting the issuance of a report as soon as possible, which has not allowed an adequate study of the same to be carried out," she stressed in her opinion.
"Favorable", but only to the possibility of reaching an agreement
For this reason, the secretary-auditor explained that she could only pronounce on whether or not it was possible to reach an out-of-court agreement to end the lawsuit, which at this time was pending the Cabildo's appeal against the judgment of first instance, which condemned the island institution to leave the Cueva de Los Verdes and pay a millionaire compensation to the City Council of Haría.
On this point, the auditor did pronounce in a "favorable" manner, but stressing that what she endorsed was the possibility of reaching an agreement and not the agreement itself that had been reached, as she had not been able to analyze it or have economic reports. Even so, the agreement was approved that same week in the Plenary, with the votes against of the entire opposition and the support of the government group, formed by Coalición Canaria and Somos Lanzarote.
Afterwards, when they presented that agreement in the Courts, the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands filed the Cabildo's appeal -which had not withdrawn it and was questioned for it by the TSJC, which again reproached its "erratic" procedural attitude- and declared the judgment final, referring to the execution phase the homologation or not of the agreement.
Haría wants to modify the agreement
Since then, both the mayor, Marci Acuña, and especially his government partner have been speaking publicly about the need to modify that agreement with the Cabildo. Even the deputy mayor of Haría, José Pérez Dorta, declared on Radio Lanzarote ? Onda Cero that they had already given orders to their legal services to request the execution of the judgment and to try to annul the agreement.
Among other things, Pérez Dorta spoke of the need to increase the economic sum that Haría was going to receive, which they accepted at the time without an economic study confirming whether the amount they negotiated was fair. An amount that was not going to be delivered in cash but through a "investment plan" over ten years. Specifically, the Cabildo committed to carry out works for an annual value "not less than 600,000 euros", adding up to 6 million euros in a decade, in addition to setting the fee that the Tourist Centers would pay to the City Council in the future.
In contrast to that agreement, what the judgment recognized to the City Council was compensation corresponding to all the revenue collected from the sale of tickets in the Cueva de Los Verdes since the lawsuit began and until the final delivery of this tourist center to the City Council. When the ruling was issued, the amount of compensation was around 12 million euros, but the figure continues to grow as long as it is not executed. When the agreement was signed, two years after the first ruling, it could already reach 18 million euros, and has continued to increase since then.
"Necessary to prove that it does not harm municipal rights"
"It would be necessary to prove that the content of the intended agreement, its specific clauses, does not harm municipal rights," insisted the auditor's report issued in 2016. To this end, she expressly requested that a report be requested from the lawyer who had been representing the City Council in this lawsuit and that it be incorporated into the file, which was not done.
The only thing the government group had, according to the secretary-auditor in her report, was an email from this lawyer. In that email he stated that, "in his opinion", the out-of-court agreement "is not harmful to the interests of the City Council and reasonably satisfies the expectation derived from the judgment issued in the instance". However, the auditor warned that this email was "insufficient for the purposes of legal certainty". For this reason, she reiterated "the need for a reasoned report issued by the lawyer to be incorporated into the file prior to the adoption of the agreement".
Along with this conditional opinion of the secretary-auditor, what was incorporated into the file was the report of another external lawyer, but also of a legal and not economic nature. That is to say, it was limited to pointing out that it is "procedurally in accordance with the law" to promote an agreement, but did not assess the economic terms of the one that had been negotiated with the Cabildo.
San Ginés refuses to negotiate a new agreement
"The assessment of the clauses of the agreement must be carried out after a weighted analysis of the municipal expectations, and possibilities of being reached, compared to the claims and positions maintained both by the Cabildo of Lanzarote and by the EPEL CACTs", warned the auditor in that report, to which the president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, made repeated allusions during the last Plenary of the Island Corporation. However, he did so to ensure that the report was "favorable", ignoring the conditions it included.
San Ginés made these references during the appearance requested by the opposition to clarify the situation in which the lawsuit of La Cueva is, after the Justice declared the judgment final and the government group of Haría has publicly stated its intention to renegotiate. In this regard, San Ginés has made it clear that he has no intention of reaching a new agreement, which has again blocked the final solution to this conflict.