The parliamentary appearance of the Minister of Industry reinforces fears about a “double game” aimed at not halting the applications.
The Socialist Party (PSOE) of Fuerteventura warns of the “double game” practiced by the CC-PP government regarding the licence applications to explore rare earth deposits on the island. Beyond the declarations, the facts confirm that the administrative silence of the Ministry of Industry on this particular issue keeps the five applications submitted “alive”.
Manuel Hernández, a PSOE MP for Fuerteventura, has highlighted in parliamentary committee the duplicity of the Vice President and Minister of Industry, Manuel Domínguez, concerning this vital matter for Fuerteventura and, by extension, the Government of the Canary Islands.
“Fifteen months have passed since the Parliament’s mandate and you have done absolutely nothing, except for statements from other members of the Government apart from you, who holds the competencies and could act instead of letting time pass,” the socialist MP pointed out in light of the absence of administrative actions that halt the applications.
Manuel Hernández recalled that the people of Fuerteventura have already expressed their opinion, just as the island’s institutions and the Canary Islands Parliament, with a unanimous position of “no to rare earths in Fuerteventura”.
Nevertheless, the CC-PP government maintains a dual agenda with public statements aligned against the exploitation of rare earths in Fuerteventura, but their actions keep the processing of exploration applications alive (through inexplicable administrative silence that only favours the applicants) and conceal the actual data.
Shadows and passive management
It is worth emphasising that only the insistence through various channels of some media (such as appealing to the Transparency Commissioner) and the socialist MP with parliamentary initiatives has allowed the discovery that the three original applications remain pending since 21 February, awaiting the report from the Directorate General for Ecological Transition and the Fight Against Climate Change, which will determine whether to accept or reject the applications.
Moreover, there are two other applications for which data had not been provided and which are also still alive in the administrative procedure, bringing the total to five applications for exploration of rare earths in Fuerteventura still in process.
Socialist MP Manuel Hernández reminded the Vice President and Minister of Industry, Manuel Domínguez, that he has a mandate from the Canary Islands Parliament since 24 April 2024, now fifteen months ago, which he committed to fulfilling: to halt the processing of research applications currently in progress; to initiate review procedures to suspend any type of authorisation relating to research permits for rare earths in Fuerteventura; not to process new applications for exploration, research, or extraction of rare earths in Fuerteventura; and to approve a decree law that legislates on the research and utilisation of these resources.
