2011/02/16 Environment Ministry gives way to the Xunta over Coastal Law in Galicia

Typically Spanish - Spain News : Northern SpainBy h.b. - Feb 16, 2011 - 4:32 PMIt follows a challenge to a regional law passed last year

A long running dispute between the Ministry for the Environment and the Xunta de Galicia has reached an end with central government finally withdrawing an appeal it had launched against a regional law which they had claimed to be unconstitutional.

The regional law concerned was passed in the Galician Parliament in February last year, intended to legalise homes, of no more than two stories high, which had been built before the Ley de Costas in the town of Marín, Pontevedra, and elsewhere. However Elena Espinosa, previous Environment Minister considered that the law invaded what was central Government responsibility and made the challenge. The new Environment Minister, Rosa Aguilar, has however withdrawn the objection.

Greenpeace has criticised the new minister for being ‘even weaker than Espinosa’.

It follows a similar understanding between the Ministry and Andalucía, granting responsibility for the coast to the regional administration. That has been harshly criticised by Greenpeace who note that now the Junta has control over the country’s most important stretch of coastline, the Doñana nature park.

Director General of Costas, Pedro Antonio Rios, commented however that the granting of responsibilities to the regions cannot be universal but he has admitted that such matters were better managed locally. His words are a departure from previously centralised comments from his department.

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