VALENCIA DODGES THE FLAK
By Tom Cain
Following last week's ultimatum from the EU parliament to clean up the new LUV land law, the Valencia government has come out fighting by laying the blame for all misuses of the LRAU on everybody other than themselves.
After a week of strongly worded statements from Brussels and Strasbourg, regional housing and territories chief Rafael Blasco has responded by saying that any ultimatum is the responsibility of central government and is not directed at regional level. He made his comment after being told that his department had broken EU law because all Planes de Actuación Integral (PAIs) were public projects as well as private and as such, a number of EU laws had been breached. It is because of this that Spain is to be hauled before the European Court of Justice.
The EU parliament has also said that the future LUV land law in its present form would not put an end to the abuses currently being perpetrated under the LRAU. In response to this, Sr Blasco said that under the LUV, local councils would have control over public procurement, thereby doing away with the vagaries in the process that are prevalent under the LRAU. Critics claim it will do the contrary.
As the debate heated up over the weekend, the under-fire regional government began firing off in all directions.
The regional tourism department hinted at a conspiracy against the region when it said that ‘certain goings-on’ were noticed during last month's World Travel Market in London. A source said that these included a legal firm that was giving talks that set out a position clearly against some of the laws in the Valencia Region.
Another to lend his weight to the theory was Benjamin Muñoz, the secretary of the Valencia promoters’ federation, who claims there are hidden economic reasons behind the campaign against Valencia, which was started in Europe, and reflected in the British press and by Abusos Urbanísticos No. He mentioned British law firm Irwin Mitchell that is representing some of those affected by the LRAU.
Then Sr Blasco weighed in, with thinly veiled remarks that he was in possession of relevant facts that if known would show why the British Ambassador was interested in the issue.
As the weekend drew to a close, Valencia president Francisco Camps officially asked the speaker of the European Parliament for permission to travel to Brussels to address the EU executive body. “Nobody is allowed to damage the image or prosperity of the community,” he stated. “No one can give us lessons in sustaining our goods and services and their future development, and we must defend the best interests of the community on an international level.”
As the pressure increases, watchers are waiting to hear what Sr Blasco's relevant facts are and just who is the unseen enemy plotting against Valencia. The spokesman for EU-Entesa, Joan Ribó, said that it was about time regional government accepted the reality of the situation and imposed a moratorium.
FATHER OF THE LRAU SPEAKS OUT
The man known as the father of the LRAU, Luciano Parejo Alfonso, has spoken out in its defence.
Sr Alfonso said that it was unacceptable for Brussels to condemn the law because there is nothing wrong with it. He added that the problem lies not with the law itself but in the way it has been wrongly applied in certain parts of the Valencia Region and that Brussels had no right to say the law was wrong.
The LRAU mainly affects non-developed land in the Valencia Region.
Source: the Costa Blanca News