The environmental association Salvar La Tejita has filed a complaint with the secretary of the Compliance Committee of the Aarhus Convention, dependent on the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, due to the lack of information on the Motor Circuit projected in Tenerife.
The expert who advises the Cabildo de Tenerife on the Motor Circuit is the same one who told him that it was not viable
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Specifically, Salvar La Tejita points out in a statement, for 25 alleged breaches in terms of access to environmental information corresponding to the processing of this project.
The 24-page complaint has been formulated against Spain, which is the member state that signed the agreement, and is responsible for ensuring that all administrations within its territory comply with all the conditions, explains Salvar La Tejita.
The origin of the complaint dates back to February 9, 2023, when he filed in the Cabildo de Tenerife a request for public information regarding the project, which requires an environmental report. The association also requested that it be granted the status of interested party to receive future notifications.
On March 24, 2023, he details, he received a notification from the Cabildo (Highway, Mobility, Innovation and Culture Area) stating that one of his requests had been “approved”, providing internet links, two of which “do not work”, directed to information that had already been published. This public information “is incomplete”, which is why the association initially submitted its request.
He adds that his request for specific technical reports was denied because, according to the administration’s resolution, the engine circuit originated in the 1990s and “there are multiple reports in the file.”
With what a request for such extensive documentation “would lead to the paralysis of daily administrative management, causing damage to the service”, it was wielded then from the Cabildo.
The association considers this statement “extremely alarming”, since if these “key” environmental documents were from the 1990s, “it is very likely that they cannot be valid in 2023”.
It stresses that “all these documents from the 90s that the administration claims it cannot find without causing its supposed collapse must, by law, be included in the 2023 work permit file.” In addition, the request to become an interested party was denied.
On April 5, 2023, Salvar La Tejita filed an official complaint with the Commissioner for Transparency and Access to Public Information, the body responsible for transparency and adherence to the Aarhus Convention and its principles in the territory of the Canary Islands.
On July 12, 2023, the association received a notification from the Transparency Commissioner denying its request and confirming the Cabildo’s decision, which is “a direct contradiction” with a resolution that the same institution took earlier in 2023, before the elections. regional, for “a very similar case”.
Salvar La Tejita also filed a complaint with the Ombudsman on April 13, 2023, which he accepted, and sent a communication to the Cabildo de Tenerife, without the case having been resolved.
He stresses that the Cabildo “has not only breached its legal obligations in terms of transparency, but has taken great measures to actively prevent at least one association from receiving important environmental information” related to the motor circuit.
It adds that “an institution whose sole purpose is to ensure compliance with transparency laws by public administrations cannot adapt its criteria to the convenience of the political party in power, but must apply the criteria in accordance with the agreements international laws, EU directives and state laws, without exceptions”.
The matter has become an international one and those responsible must realize that they cannot ignore or manipulate transparency laws, especially those of international conventions, he adds.
Salvar La Tejita recalls that the agreement on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters, commonly known as the Aarhus Convention, was signed on June 25, 1998 in the Danish city of the same name, and which entered into force on October 30, 2001.
It also highlights that the community directive was adapted by Spanish law (Law 27/2006), and although the autonomous communities can apply their own regulations on transparency, this must be complementary to the state one and cannot annul any aspect of it. .
Public authorities, concludes Salvar La Tejita, are obliged to allow the general public and environmental NGOs to participate “in a meaningful way” in decision-making on projects that affect the environment and plans and programs related to the environment.
