Date Published: 19/12/2019
ARCHIVED - PSOE leaders in Murcia oppose their own party as the government denies irrigation farmers water
ARCHIVED ARTICLE 
Widespread rejection of the refusal to transfer irrigation water via the Tajo-Segura canal
The announcement by the Ministry of Ecological Transition that no water is to be transferred to the Segura basin (which includes the Region of Murcia) from the Tajo for irrigation farming in December has met with almost universal opposition in Murcia, not only from within the agricultural sector and the regional government, but also from leading members of the regional PSOE party which is still forming the acting government in Spain.
It is almost inevitable that the PP Murcia government should be strongly critical of the government decision, but the degree of dissatisfaction in the region over the all-inclusive denial of “extra” water to irrigation farmers on the grounds that their activity contributes to the deterioration of the marine environment of the Mar Menor is such that leading PSOE politicians have also been scathing in their opposition to it. For example, Diego José Mateos, the PSOE Mayor of Lorca, has expressed his “deep disagreement” with the Ministry’s reasoning, pointing out that the crop farming in the municipality he represents has no effect at all on the Mar Menor and maintaining that it is unfair that they should be punished for the situation in the lagoon.

He also announced that he has requested an urgent meeting with Hugo Morán, the Secretary of State for the Environment, to demand a review of the policy outlined by the Ministry.
Similarly, Diego Conesa, the leader of the PSOE in the Region of Murcia, has also requested an urgent meeting with Sr Morán, explaining that “we do not accept this measure” or the use of the “pretext” of the Mar Menor to justify it, and the regional government of Valencia is to seek a review of the policy as it also affects farmers in the south of the province of Alicante.
In June 2018 Sr Conesa was one of the political leaders in Murcia who signed a “Water Pact”, agreeing to support various aspects of policy related to solving the inherent lack of water in the south-east of Spain. Among the items on which the PP, PSOE and Ciudadanos parties agreed was the maintenance of the Tajo-Segura water supply canal, which brings water from the north of Castilla-La Mancha to central Spain and whose use has been restricted this week by the Ministry.

As Murcia Today commented at the time, this placed Diego Conesa in a potentially difficult situation in that he might be forced to oppose his own party on the national stage, and this now appears to be the case as a new “Water War” like those which have raged in the past appears to be beginning.
On Wednesday, as the first shots in the latest battle continue to be fired, the first in a series of protests by farmers is being held outside the national government delegation in Murcia, and they have also announced that they will refuse to pay the sum of 13 million euros per year which currently allows them to be allocated water from the Tajo-Segura canal.
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