PRESS RELEASE
23/05/2020
FMRM requests a meeting with the Environment Department to discuss the municipal competition rules approved by the CARM
The Federation, through a letter, expresses its displeasure since this Decree has not been consulted with the Local Entities
Recently, the Department of the Environment of the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia has approved two regulations: Order of May 5, 2020 on agricultural burning and Decree-Law 5/2020, of May 7, on mitigation of the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19 in the area of the environment, in Law 4/2009, of May 14, on Integrated Environmental Protection of the Region of Murcia.
Both regulations affect municipal powers, and yet the FMRM has not had the opportunity to study them beforehand, as has been done until now in these cases following the relationship agreement that has always existed between both institutions.
For this reason, the Federation of Municipalities of the Region of Murcia has believed it necessary to request a meeting with its representative, Antonio Luengo Zapata, Councillor for Water, Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and the Environment of the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia, to discuss this issue, in order to jointly study all the regulations that could affect the municipalities and negotiate them.
Given this scenario, the FMRM has consulted, as usual, the legal department to clarify the situation caused by the CARM and how it influences local entities. This report points out that "before Decree Law 5/2020 on the environmental assessment of projects, the functions of the environmental body always corresponded to the department; with the decree law, these powers are transferred and/or delegated to the municipalities." Therefore, the legal services of the FMRM are alerting about this issue, considering that as stated in this decree, "articles 25 and 26 of the Basic Law of Local Government may be violated."
For his part, the Secretary General of the FMRM says that "with this decree law, the impact is not measured and the allocation of resources is forgotten to guarantee the financial sufficiency of the municipalities, and we have the duty to remind the regional government of this, to avoid the corresponding economic imbalance of the local entities."
In this regard, the president of the Federation of Municipalities, María Dolores Muñoz, states in the letter sent to the councilor that, "I believe that the benefits of any order or law that our Regional Government approves in its legitimate capacity to do so are evident, which have the support and consensus of the Federation, since dedicating time to negotiation in search of consensus is not losing it, but quite the opposite, since we gain in the application and development of that norm."
This is not the first time that the body representing the 45 municipalities has expressed its discontent with the formula used in the decree-law order. For this reason, they insist on the need to hold a working meeting with the president of the FMRM or with the entire Executive Committee of said federation, so that “together we can find a path that brings us closer and that can improve and accommodate both norms to the interests of the great majority,” says Muñoz.
This entity once again emphasizes in its writing that, “we are only motivated by the defense of municipal interests, that the FMRM was created for that purpose, and that for that reason we are obliged to spare no effort in all senses and fields, to properly achieve this objective of defending and fighting for local interests,” it writes.
Now we just have to wait for the reaction of the CARM's Department of the Environment, to reach that consensus and balance necessary with the main objective of overcoming any joint situation for the benefit of all Murcians.
