• Negotiation Peace in Doñana will be decided this week: the negotiation enters its decisive phase

The president of the Doñana Participation Council, Miguel Delibes, has convened this Saturday afternoon to urgently convene this deliberative body for next Monday 27 at 11.30 a.m. in Almonte. In the call, via email, no agenda is indicated, only that it will "address issues of undoubted importance for the present and future of Doñana and its region".

This meeting without an agenda is something completely unusual, as is the fact that there is no documentation available to the members, who range from mayors to administrations, ecologists or even brotherhoods.

Some members of the Council consulted by EL MUNDO claim to be completely unaware of the reason for such an urgent meeting, which is convened "at the suggestion of the Junta de Andalucía," according to Delibes' email. They even clarify that it does not seem to be an official session, but a meeting.

In any case, it is more than likely that it would be a matter of informing about the agreement reached between the state and regional governments for a solution to the controversy of the legalization of some 1,000 hectares of illegal strawberries by the Junta, the most bitter conflict that President Juanma Moreno has suffered so far.

After more than a year of controversy, the meeting two months ago between the Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, and President Moreno resulted in the will to close in a month an agreement on the conflict, born by the decision of the Junta - first before the last regional elections, and reactivated before the municipal elections. to expand by about 1,000 hectares the cultivation of soft fruits already legalized a decade ago. The deadline has been extended, but all indications are that consensus has been reached.

The state government committed to an investment of 350 million euros in the region - the westernmost area of Doñana - in order to ultimately prevent the legalization of crops that affect the overexploited Doñana aquifer, which even leads to the drying up of lagoons. Ribera said that the region will be given alternatives "based on things that do not involve more water."

On Thursday, the Minister of the Presidency, Interior, Social Dialogue and Administrative Simplification, Antonio Sanz, said on Canal Sur Radio that "contacts and meetings are taking place normally and also with progress and optimism to continue working", making it clear that the Junta is going to "give its all to try to reach an agreement". "What we're working on is much more ambitious than what was initially set out and I think it's worthwhile and we're going to try to reach that agreement." According to reports in recent days, the intention of the two administrations was to be able to announce their signature before the end of the month.

The law that the Junta had taken to Parliament as a matter of urgency on the controversial strawberries was paralyzed at the beginning of October after a meeting between the minister and the Andalusian president. Moreno Bonilla's intention had provoked a real outcry against it, uniting opposition parties, scientists, the European Union, environmentalists and UNESCO. The State announced that it would appeal to the Constitutional Court, and the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation warned that it would not approve more irrigation, neither in that area nor in the entire demarcation.

  • Doñana
  • European Union
  • Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla
  • Teresa Ribera
  • Environment
  • Huelva