The general secretary of the PSOE of Lanzarote, María Dolores Corujo, and the deputy for Lanzarote and La Graciosa, Marcos Bergaz, announced this this Monday that they have presented in the Parliament of the Canary Islands of a Non-Law Proposition to paralyze the Renewable Energy Acceleration Zone (ZAR) agreed upon in Lanzarote. The opposition party has announced that it seeks to put a stop to this initiative "until there is a real consensus" with the local administrations of the island.
During a press conference, the socialist leaders have denounced the institutional conflict generated between the Cabildo of Lanzarote and the Government of the Canary Islands after the signing by Oswaldo Betancort (CC) and Mariano H. Zapata (PP) of the protocol for the delimitation of these zones last July intended to facilitate the implementation of renewable energy projects.
"The energy transition is essential, but it cannot be done at the expense of Lanzarote's territory or landscape. We are not going to allow Betancort and Zapata to put the island's landscape and territory, our most precious assets, at risk with this ZAR," Corujo has defended.
An agreement of more than 3,100 hectares
The socialist leader has criticized the attitude of the president of the Cabildo de Lanzarote regarding the controversy generated by the delimitation of the ZAR on the island.
“If the proposal signed by the Cabildo and the Government of the Canary Islands is already worrying, even more so is the attitude of the president, incapable of explaining why he signed a renewable energy acceleration zone of more than 3,100 hectares from which he now, in view of the social reaction, intends to distance himself,” she pointed out.
According to what they have explained, while the regional Executive maintains that the document was the result of a consensual process and sets an area suitable for ZAR of 3,163.89 hectares —around 3.75% of the island territory—, from the Cabildo, the content of the agreement has been questioned, considering that the maps published by the Ministry of Ecological Transition "contain errors that do not correspond with what was initially agreed".
This discrepancy has resulted in an institutional confrontation that has lasted for months and that has even prevented the implementation of the Joint Monitoring Commission foreseen in the protocol itself.
Denounces the lack of a joint explanation
In this context, the socialist deputy Marcos Bergaz has criticized the "lack of a joint explanation by the administrations involved".
“While the Cabildo and the Government of the Canary Islands have been starring in the main institutional clash remembered around this issue for eight months, they are still unable to offer a joint explanation to the citizenry, despite the fact that at the time they boasted of being the first to approve the Renewable Acceleration Zone,” he added.
“Opportunities they have had to paralyze this folly, but they continue in a flight forward. Of course, we bet on renewables, but not like this, because we have another model that does not compromise the territory or landscape of Lanzarote,” highlighted the deputy.
“For greater contradiction, now Betancort intends to distance himself from the ZAR that he himself signed, and even forgets that with his vote from Coalición Canaria and the same in parliament he precisely approved the creation of the figure of acceleration zones and the suppression of environmental evaluation for projects to be executed in them,” Bergaz recalled.
The PSOE asks that a consensus be reached
For this reason, the Socialist Parliamentary Group has registered an initiative in the autonomous Chamber to urge the Government of the Canary Islands to promote renewables, but from the maximum consensus with local and island administrations.
Likewise, the proposal suggests "to promote the necessary actions to overcome the existing institutional conflict between the Cabildo de Lanzarote and the autonomous Executive and to paralyze the processing of the island's ZAR while an agreement is not reached with the administrations of the territory."
“Renewable energies are necessary for the Canary Islands and Lanzarote, but betting on public ownership, without pecking at the islands and hand in hand with the agreement with Island Councils and Municipalities. Without institutional consensus, this model is condemned to conflict,” the socialist deputy added.
To conclude, the socialist leader Dolores Corujo stated “Lanzarote needs a president with rigor, coherence and who does not put the territory and landscape of the island at risk with their signature, as Betancort has done with this Renewable Acceleration Zone”.
