Sumar shows his disagreement with the reform of the Land Law that the Council of Ministers approves this Tuesday. The minority partner of the coalition considers that the preliminary project “unnecessarily” limits the public administration's capacity for intervention in urban planning matters and criticizes the reduction of the reasons for total nullity of the projects, according to the content of the text to which it has had access EL PAÍS. The formation of Yolanda Díaz had already transferred her objections to the Ministry of Transport, in the hands of the PSOE, and now it does so within the Council through a formal observation, which does not prevent the rule from going forward. The law had already received the approval of the Government in December 2022, but it declined before it could advance in the Cortes due to the early elections. Sumar's parliamentary group will try to correct the deficiencies through amendments in the parliamentary process. The rule, which also does not satisfy other groups on the left such as Podemos, forces the Executive to negotiate with the investiture bloc or to seek support on the right once it reaches Congress.
In his writing, Sumar maintains that the text “does not adequately respond” to the objective of reinforcing legal certainty in the field of urban planning. “The regulation of nullities and annulments provided for in article 55, and more specifically the retroaction regime for some formal defects, can give rise to the validation of urban planning irregularities and is, therefore, very questionable and should remain unchanged,” points out the document.
“The unnecessary limitation introduced to public action in articles 5 and 62 of the Land Law is also especially criticizable,” he continues. “The need to overcome public action in urban planning matters is not shared due to the fact that it has remained unchanged since 1956 and on some occasions it could have been used for spurious purposes.” The leftist formation defends that, on the contrary, on “countless occasions” public action has served to paralyze “oversized plans with great social and environmental impact”, which “neglected” the protection of the coastline, the public hydraulic domain or the protected spaces by omitting or ignoring sectoral reports called to ensure environmental protection. For this reason, Sumar affirms that he does not share “the need to restrict access to public action” and considers it more appropriate to maintain it as it is now, without limiting the possibility that citizens have to demand the expulsion from the legal system of illegal urban plans. in defense of general interests.
However, analysts consider that this popular action leaves the door open for any organization to knock down urban projects without demonstrating direct impact. “Public action is fully recognized in environmental matters by European regulations, but the fact that this is completely transferred to urban planning opens up judicial conflict,” says Jorge Hervás Más, professor in the urban planning department of the Polytechnic University of Valencia. According to him, only amending the article will ensure that the plaintiffs are acting in good faith and without spurious interests.
Hervás also doubts that the modification of article 55 could give rise to “urban planning irregularities”, as Sumar fears. “The change in the standard prevents a defect in form from throwing away years of work, but in no case are they problems of content. What is born flawed will remain that way until the end, but in these cases we must be aware that any urban development contains hundreds of sectoral reports and it is possible that some of them are wrong,” he adds.
In any case, a defect in form has nothing to do with the legal or environmental irregularities for which a work must be cancelled. Like the luxury tourist complex that was built on the Valdecañas reservoir, in Cáceres. After 14 years of litigation between environmentalists, the Government of Extremadura and the owners, the Supreme Court agreed that it should be completely demolished. According to the analyst, this will continue to be the case with the change in the rule. “It is not that clandestine works or demolition sentences are going to be legalized, we are only talking about technical issues.”
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Díaz's formation also proposes that the current deadlines for the indirect challenge of territorial and urban planning instruments be preserved. A request that clashes with the demands of the real estate sector, which for years has been demanding more effective management in order to avoid the paralysis of years in projects.
Disagreement between parties
The rule once again tests the strength of the coalition in an already very complicated legislature. Added to the clash between the partners—who have done everything possible to avoid staging the discrepancy at the press conference after the Council of Ministers—is the lack of support from parliamentary allies. Now alone with the no from Podemos, which on Monday criticized that the text gave “free rein to the culture of hitting the ball,” the Government is forced to seek votes from the right-wing bench.
From the socialist wing of the Executive they have tried to downplay the importance of the disagreement and emphasize that the law will now enter parliamentary processing. “The Government's objective is to have a broad consensus in Congress to approve this law that seeks to provide legal certainty and that has been highly demanded by city councils,” said the spokesperson, Pilar Alegría. “The first perception we have received from the vast majority of parliamentary groups is of a desire to approve this law,” she added.
Sources from the Sumar side of the Executive have insisted after the Council of Ministers that each group will establish its position in Parliament and that they maintain their rejection of “limiting public action.” “When we disagree with something we say it, we make allegations, we present it in the Council of Ministers and when they ask us we explain it,” they concluded.
Asked about this matter, the PP spokesperson in Congress, Miguel Tellado, once again put his finger on the issue, alluding to the internal “division” and the parliamentary “weakness” of the Executive: “Without knowing the text or knowing exactly what that happens internally in the Government between the PSOE and Sumar, what I can remember is the phrase that Feijóo said in the investiture debate to President Sánchez. “When your partners fail you, don't come looking for me.”'
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