In recent days and weeks, with the theme of Corrugados, the town of Azpeitia and the town hall of Azpeitia have placed us in the midst of a media whirlwind. As Mayor of Azpeitia, I feel obliged to clarify a number of issues:

First of all, I will say once again that the Azpeitia City Hall has a great interest in opening the Corrugados plant in Azpeitia. We have said so publicly. And we have transferred it to the Basque Government, to the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa and to the company Crystian Lay. From the outset, we have shown our total readiness to work and work for jobs to the minimum possibility of opening the Corrugados plant.

The PNV decided to refer the matter to the media when a single meeting had not yet been held between all the institutions involved and the company has not yet submitted any business plan, technical report or feasibility plan. And as we have seen, since then we have had more work done in the response to the media than in the start-up of the company.

I have the feeling that the statements I have made in the media have not been as happy as others, in this case the councillor for Economic Development and Infrastructure, Arantxa Tapia. Of course, the counselor is more accustomed and more complicated than I am in the media. However, the fact that your message is spread through the media for longer does not mean that you are right.

I wish we were taking the issue out of the media and treating it with discretion. Because, I'm going to confess to you, I don't feel comfortable in this media mess that doesn't take us anywhere. I have training in the legal field. I have been the secretary of a city council in Gipuzkoa for thirteen years. With humility, but I think I am aware of the most common administrative and urban procedures in municipalities. In fact, the Secretary's role is to give legal guarantees to the decisions taken by the municipalities. And I'm going to confess to you that I feel much safer in making decisions about these issues than in this game before the media.

The company Corrugados Azpeitia informed the Azpeitia City Hall in writing of the cessation of the activity in 2014. At this moment we are informed of the intention to start the plant, so it seems reasonable to demand compliance with the environmental and urban conditions so that this possibility reaches a degree of certainty.

Environmental requirements fall within the competence of the relevant department of the Basque Government, and so, out of interinstitutional respect, I am not going to say anything about this. Unless, as an objective fact, in 2008 Corrugados was granted the Integrated Environmental Authorization, which was linked to a six-month execution period, with the obligation to comply with the environmental conditions established therein and to carry out its mandatory review. There is no document in the City Council stating that the environmental conditions were fully met. And we do not know whether, as stated in the document itself, an inspection was carried out four years after this conditional authorisation was granted. This document had an expiry date of eight years. This is a matter for the Basque Government, and we do not want to go into it, but, of course, it is up to us to follow up within the authority of the inspectorate and the authority of the municipality.

In the field of urban planning, and knowing the subject better, I think I can give my opinion. First of all, I would like to recall Decree 14/2009 of 27 January of the Department of the Environment and Regional Planning of the Basque Government, which definitively approved the 1st amendment of the PTP of the Zarautz Functional Area (Urola Kosta) as regards the following areas of Azpeitia, Trukutxo and Amue:

Annex I lists the Amue Area ( 1) as a priority area for new high-density residential development and for Trukutxo 5. As a Priority Area for the Redevelopment of Economic Activities, with express mention of the inclusion of the steel installation project.

The following considerations are set out in Annex II – Joint Environmental Impact Assessment:

• The modification of the proposed territorial planning is based on the integration of the principle of sustainable development into spatial planning, taking into account the territorial reception capacity, socio-economic needs and the environmental and urban perspective. Based on these basic criteria and in accordance with the guiding principles of the environmental policy of the CAPV, Spain and Europe, the needs for the relocation of the smelting plants of Corrugados Azpeitia are met, while seeking modern implementation conditions in accordance with the current regulations and environmental values.

• As strategic environmental criteria for the new implementation and the search for alternatives, the initial premises are the non-affection to spaces or special protection environments; the distancing from residential areas.

• In this situation it is found that the Trukutxo area, with an approximate area of 25 Ha, is able to respond to the demand raised, according to the strategic and viability environmental criteria mentioned, in accordance with the principles of public interest and in accordance with the corresponding Joint Environmental Impact Assessment (ECIA). It is possible to recover the area of Amue for the city of Azpeitia. A Partial Territorial Plan is conceived as an urban instrument that seeks supramunicipal ordination and which, therefore, should affect it in a necessary way, given that the General Urban Planning Plan of Azpeitia predominates its determinations.

The General Urban Management Plan of Azpeitia, unanimously approved by EHBildu and PNV in 2013, could not be otherwise by the normative hierarchy, so it collected these determinations. As a result, they become implementing rules.

I could continue to give legal arguments, but this open letter gives no more. As in the media, there is no possibility of a legal debate by means of brief statements. That is why, if the counselor wants to continue in public with this legal debate, at least, I would ask him to do so under the same conditions: with respect, in front and with the time necessary. The Azpeitia City Hall, aware that it would be of interest to the Azpeitiarras, would be prepared to put all the necessary facilities and means to carry out the public debate.

In the meantime, I ask the counsellor to respect the Azpeitia City Hall and the people of Azpeitia. With the Azpeitia City Hall, because going beyond its powers would be to question municipal autonomy. Because questioning the honesty and public responsibility of the technicians and political representatives of the Azpeitia City Hall is not acceptable. And with the people of Azpeitia, because in their day the closure of Corrugados was dramatic, because there is a lack of respect for what the workers and their families suffered, the Azpeitiars. Now, without a real project, removing the topic can cause the wounds of before to be renewed.

I do not want to end without reaching out to cooperate. As noted at the beginning of the letter, the Azpeitia City Hall is ready to work, fulfilling all the necessary requirements, by the opening of Corrugados. If there really is a will and industrial projects, let us sit down and get to work. Let us give a fresh boost to the people of Azpeitia.

Thank you.

* Nagore Alkorta is Mayor of Azpeitia