Vara acknowledges that there was no express declaration about the ZEPA in Valdecañas

The president of the Junta de Extremadura, Guillermo Fernández Vara, acknowledged yesterday that there was no “express statement or decision” from the Autonomous Government Council regarding the ZEPA in the area of ​​the Marina Isla de Valdecañas complex at the time when started the project, although there were “other communications to Brussels”.

He considered that now “it will have to be others (referring to the courts) who say if that (the communications to Brussels) has all the value or not.”

In this way, it confirmed the news advanced by HOY on April 6, the date on which this newspaper published that the Junta de Extremadura has no express record of having declared the Valdecañas reservoir as a ZEPA (Special Bird Protection Area).

This is recognized by the regional administration in a document sent to the promoter of Marina Isla Valdecañas, whose CEO publicly requested on March 5 in an open letter to Guillermo Fernández Vara to provide him with the declaration file of that place as a protected space, at the doubts she harbored about him.

Yesterday, Vara declared that “what is clear is that at that time there was neither an express declaration nor was there a decision of the Governing Council regarding that ZEPA, but there were other communications to Brussels, that others will have to say if that it has all the value or not”, he affirmed to questions from the media during his attendance in Arroyo de la Luz (Cáceres) at the delivery of the Extraordinary Education Awards.

Regarding whether the ZEPA exists and it was done in a timely manner, the president of Extremadura recalled that already last week it was known that the Board “in response to very specific questions” from the Valdecañas Island Marina company indicated that “there is no an express declaration of ZEPA”, although he added that this answer “means only that”, that is, “that there is no express declaration but there is another series of facts that took place at that time, and that in any case they will have to be the courts as it seems that whoever ends up deciding will end up there”.

“However, I already say that in any case what the council has said has been to very specific questions and worded in that way by the promoters,” insisted Fernández Vara, who added that “the promoters obviously ask what they believe that it is necessary to be clear in the files».

In any case, he stressed that the Junta de Extremadura has applied “absolute transparency” in this matter and has responded to “very specific” questions about the Marina Isla de Valdecañas file requested by the promoter company.

«In any case, I think it would not be good if nobody understood or believed that this is no subterfuge…, not at all…, it is an element of absolute transparency… The company has requested this information and It has been provided immediately, as I think it was our obligation, “he said.