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ARCHIVED - Right -wing politics threaten Mar Menor Protection Law
The Constitutional Court has accepted an appeal presented by Vox and will review the legislation.
In July political differences were temporarily put aside as the regional parliament of Murcia voted to approve new legislation designed to try and resolve some of the long-standing issues faced by the Mar Menor, the Ley de Protección y Recuperación Integral del Mar Menor.
The new laws aimed to correct the damage done to the Mar Menor over the last couple of decades and put in place preventative reforms to prevent the problems reoccurring.(Click for background information about the situation facing the Mar Menor)
But the law will once again be scrutinised during the coming weeks at the Spanish Constitutional Court in Madrid, after far- right wing political party Vox demanded that the legislation be changed.
Plans to deal with the issues relating to the Mar Menor have been shunned by Vox who claim that the laws are unfair to those farmers who own land close to its shores and must now change their agricultural practices and reduce the use of chemicals in their farming activity in order to comply with the new protection law.
Vox spokesman Juan Jose Liarte condemned the agreements made back in July because of the ‘arbitrary’ rules set by more moderate political parties; Ciudadanos, Unidos Podemos, the socialist PSOE and the Partido Popular all agreed on a revised set of legislation following weeks of discussion.
Vox also considers that the norm carries out an "irrational and discriminative" area redefinition and delimitation, and that that the “prohibitions and restrictions imposed on agricultural use are not adequate to protect agricultural economic activity or resolve the environmental issues, so will not achieve the intended purpose.”
Representative of the PP Jesus Cano responded to the criticism made by the party, saying that Vox is merely an “obstacle for the regeneration of the Mar Menor”.
Other Vox representatives such as Mar Menor local Jose Angel Antelo had previously stated that farmers were being villainised for the decline of the Mar Menor. They lost this argument in July due to an overwhelming amount of evidence showing farms to be directly responsible for the damage caused through overuse of nitrates, the drilling of illegal wells, the restructuring of the land and illegal irrigation, amongst other issues.
The high levels of nitrogen in the waters of the Mar Menor caused in part by these activities have been linked to an excessive growth of intrusive aquatic plant life such as algae; a big turn-off for tourists who expect a slime free area in which to swim whilst on holiday.
The efforts to re-activate tourism in the Mar Menor is not a far- right priority, but with Vox gaining increasing levels of support across Spain and consequently gaining in political power, the party has the same rights as anyone else to put forward their point of view and request a revision of the law, so the Constitutional Court has accepted the appeal presented by Vox and will review the legislation.