The German Parliament sends a mission to Spain to investigate the conflict over water and strawberries in Doñana

Parliamentarians from the Bundestag Committee on the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection will travel to Doñana from June 4 to 9 on a mission whose focus has been defined around “water scarcity” and protection of the consumer.

“Strawberry cultivation is particularly intensive in the Doñana National Park region, one of the most important wetlands in Europe and therefore a biodiversity hotspot.. Due to the illegal extraction of water by agriculture for irrigation, especially for the cultivation of strawberries, Doñana -accompanied by a persistent drought- is seriously threatened by dehydration. This current problem is of particular interest to the delegation and will be the focus of its discussions,” the German Parliament added in a statement.

The delegation will be led by committee chairman Harald Ebner, along with Dunja Kreiser (SPD), Michael Thews (SPD), Astrid Damerow (CDU/CSU), Volker Mayer-Lay (CDU/CSU), Linda Heitmann (ALIANCE 90/THE GREENS), Muhanad Al-Halak (FDP), Andreas Bleck (AfD) and Amira Mohamed Ali (DIE LINKE.).

The visit will begin in Madrid and with meetings with the Secretary of State for the Environment and the Secretary of State for Consumption to discuss with them the current evolution of consumer protection legislation.

Subsequently, the delegation will visit Andalusia, which, according to it, is “seriously affected by the scarcity of water”. As part of the visiting program, an “intensive exchange of views” will take place both with members of the Government and with representatives of environmental protection organizations and farmers' associations.. The delegation will also meet with scientists, representatives of political foundations and farms.

Taking advantage of the occasion, the central government has accused the Andalusian president, Juanma Moreno, of having “reckless conduct” because “he knew that he was putting the strawberry sector at risk” with the proposed law on irrigation in the area of Doñana, since that there was a threat of a boycott from the marketers with the first initiative in 2021.

The Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morán, will meet tomorrow, as the Government's environmental authority, with the delegation of German parliamentarians who have traveled to Spain to find out about the situation of the Doñana National Park due to the situation of drought and crops of strawberries.

german initiative

The central government has stressed this Sunday that the visit is the initiative of the German Parliament, the Bundestag, which requested the meeting from the Ministry for Ecological Transition, which will take place at 1:00 p.m. at the ministerial headquarters.

The Ministry has avoided assessing the initiatives of the German Parliament and has left the information on the rest of the meetings that its parliamentarians will hold with the heads of the Junta de Andalucía and other authorities in the hands of the Bundestag.

The central government has assured that it “supports and defends” all “legal” farmers who are threatened by the “reputational crisis” generated by a “reckless policy” of the president of the Board, Juanma Moreno, since “it should not be criminalize the freseros”.

He has insisted that the irrigation initiative promoted by the Andalusian government “has put the strawberry growers at risk” and considers it “unfair” that the marketers “make the strawberry growers pay for the irresponsibility committed by the president of the Board”.

The Ministry guarantees that “the strawberry growers will always have the Government of Spain at their side” and has recalled that it has already warned the Board “verbally and in writing” of the risk involved in promoting the proposed law on irrigation, “against the legislation Spanish and European”.

He has again demanded the “immediate” withdrawal of the law and will raise a suspensive appeal before the Constitutional Court if it is approved.

The central Executive considers that Moreno “knew that he was putting the strawberry sector at risk”, so his conduct is “reckless”.