The PP of Extremadura considers that the “self-fine” that its Minister of Agriculture, Mercedes Morán, imposed on herself for having an illegal well on a plot of land declared arid, of which she is a co-owner, exonerates her from any responsibility, but the PSOE has demanded “her dismissal or resignation” after the information revealed by. elDiario.es Extremadura.
Morán owns a 3.5-hectare vineyard in the Tierra de Barros region (Badajoz), which is irrigated by a well that the Guadiana Hydrographic Confederation (CHG) is not aware of and which, therefore, is illegal. It turns out that the aquifer in this region was declared overexploited in 2015 and since then no rights have been granted for new uses.
According to the adviser, her department became aware of the situation during a “field inspection” and the ministry she heads imposed sanctions in accordance with the law, which consist of relevant CAP aid and conditionality sanctions.
However, it is still not known when the inspection was carried out, what the date of the file is and what exactly the sanctions that the Commission imposed on the councilor’s brother, who is the one who exploits the land, consist of, another argument that Morán emphasizes to exonerate any responsibility. The PSPOE will take these issues to the Assembly of Extremadura and demanded this Tuesday that the head of Agriculture cease to sit on the government council.
“If she does not resign, we will demand that María Guardiola immediately remove her from her position,” warned the spokesperson for the Socialist Group, Piedad Álvarez, who stressed that they had been waiting all weekend for Morán to resign, after learning of the existence of an “illegal and illegalizable” well on land that belongs to her. However, since this has not happened, she has asked the President of the Council to remove her from her position because “we must act with ethics and exemplary behavior” and because Morán cannot be “judge and jury” in this process.
In addition, he accuses her of receiving community subsidies because “she claims to have a vineyard on dry land – on these properties – when in reality what she owns is a vineyard irrigated with water and money from Europe.” In this context, Álvarez said, the councilor cannot sit on the Government Council to carry out the modernization of the landscape and the irrigation project of Tierra de Barros.
In response, the spokesman for the Popular Parliamentary Group, José Ángel Sánchez Juliá, accused the socialists of making “noise” with this case because the councilor does not operate or have any responsibility in this matter. For this reason, he urged the PSOE not to create “smoke screens” and to explain why the Spanish government does not want to contribute “not a cent” of euros to the Tierra de Barros irrigation project.
In this sense, it was asked who was lying, if the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, when in 2019 he declared that the declaration of general interest for this project would be accompanied by financial aid, or if the Secretary of State for Agriculture and Food, the former councilor of Extremadura Begoña García Bernal, when she declared last week “it is not possible”.
According to the popular deputy, the PSOE does not want the irrigation project to be carried out “because of its electoral strategy.”
