Alex Trelinski
A three-day fact-finding trip to the Mar Menor area by European MPs has ended with one of the delegation stating that the pollution problems have ‘many origins’.
Latvia MEP and a member of the Green group in Brussels, Tatjana Zdanoka, said that she would propose that any EU funds allocated to help the regeneration of the Murcia lagoon should be ‘fully audited’.
The delegation finished their visit on Friday and will produce a report over the next three months that aims to get an all-party consensus to approve a package of assistance from the European Parliament.
At a Murcia news conference, Zdanoka said that the MEPs were able to veryify ‘first-hand the gravity of the environmental state of the Mar Menor’.
“It is a problem with many origins, which must be addressed at all levels of administrations, which includes European bodies,” she commented.
In a reference to disagreements between the national and Murcia governments, Zdanoka said: “We recognize that one of the immediate problems that must be addressed is a lack of coordination between the different levels at which decisions are made.”
Asked to comment further, the Latvian MEP said she did not want to delve into the disputes between the administrations.
She noted that the delegation ‘is aware’ that most of the causes of the deterioration of the Mar Menor ‘are linked to economic activities, which are a source of employment and income in the Murcia region’.
Those economic activities Zdanoka referred to were discharges of nitrates into the lagoon from illegal farm irrigation systems based around the Campo de Cartagena.
“We have the firm intention of doing everything within our powers to include in our final report the necessary recommendations that allow all the institutions involved to work hand in hand to solve the environmental problem that affects the Mar Menor,” concluded Zdanoka.
READ MORE:
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- EU takes Spain to European Court for not stopping pollution of areas like the Mar Menor
- Judge reveals evidence of ‘environmental crime’ in Mar Menor pollution investigation in Spain
