Parliament should send fact finding delegation on water plan to Spain


THE GREENS/EFA IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

PRESS RELEASE - Brussels, 19 June 2002

The Greens/EFA today called for a parliamentary delegation being sent to Spain to investigate the effects of the Spanish National Hydrological Plan on the environment.

At a hearing at the Parliament's Petitions Committee, Monica Frassoni, Co-President of the Green/EFA group said:

"The Petition's Committee should rapidly organise a fact finding delegation to visit the areas affected by the water plan. Only by going there, Parliamentarians will grasp the reality of a project, which completely disregards environmental sustainability. We cannot see the necessity to divert huge water masses to enable the construction of new golf courses in the south of Spain. An approval of this misguided project would give green light to similar non sustainable projects in other EU countries such as Italy."

Inger Schörling, Member of the Environment Committee, said:

"The EU must not provide any funds for this project, which violates numerous EU directives. In February, the Parliament already sent a strong signal to the Commission asking by an overwhelming majority not to finance any water transfer projects in the Union. The 8 billion Euro the Spanish government hopes to get from Brussels for its megalomaniac project can really be put to better uses."


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