They call to mobilize against the ‘Tapia Law’ which aims to remove the competition from municipalities over large infrastructures
- The PNV and the PSE want to reform the Land Management Act, take decisions on “Supreme Public Interest” projects away from the municipalities and hand them over to the Basque Government. The Araba Bizirik platform called for a demonstration on 2 December against the adaptation of the regulations.
According to the Araba Bizirik platform, the adaptation publicly defended by Arantza Tapia has a single objective: “Leave in the hands of the Basque Government the approval of the infrastructure plans that could have excluded the municipalities”. The Araba Bizirik platform has joined the movements against the TAV and the large photovoltaic and wind parks, among other collectives, and has denounced that the legal modification directly affects them: “Vitoria-Gasteiz is once again threatening the fracking; the councils, which have faced the expropriation of communal lands or the tracing of the TAV that bring wind or photovoltaic power plants, are once again facing the same threat.” The platform has underlined that the threat goes beyond Álava, however: “The projects for incineration plants in Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia or the drawing up of high-voltage networks are a clear example of the priorities of the Basque Government.”
Gorka Uraran, Mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz and President of Eudel
Last Friday, in the plenary of the City of Vitoria-Gasteiz, the law was debated, and EH Bildu, Elkarrekin and pp joined a motion against the reform. The motion was adopted because the sum of the three parties is a majority, but the PNV and the PSE voted against it. The Araba Bizirik platform has criticised the attitude of Gorka Uraran, Mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz and President of Eudel, Gorka Uraran: “Gorka Uraran has made his position clear, as instead of being in the chair of the Mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz, all he does is attend to the orders of the PNV.” In December 2020, the City of Vitoria-Gasteiz refused to authorize the Basque Government to investigate the presence of gas in the Armentia-2 well in Vitoria-Gasteiz. Arantza Tapia criticized the decision and the department that it directs filed an appeal against the decision of the City Council, which was appealed by the unions. URARAN, for its part, assured that it would defend the decision of the City Council of Pamplona/Iruña.
Mobilisation on Thursday
Araba Bizirik called for a halt to the legal amendment and for "the consensus reached in the Law on Spatial Planning, which was unanimously adopted" to be respected. With this objective he called to mobilize the citizens of Araba, Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia on 2 December at 11:00 a.m. before the Parliament of Vitoria-Gasteiz under the slogan “No to the Tapia Law!”.
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