The Federation of Municipalities warns that the Community does not have the capacity to delegate evaluation powers to towns with fewer than 50.000 inhabitants.
News published in La Opinión de Murcia on June 16, 2020.
Only four of the 45 municipalities in the region would have to assume the environmental powers transferred to them by the regional government with the reform of the Environmental Protection Law. The report prepared by the lawyer of the Federation of Municipalities of the Region (FMRM), which was published by La Opinión, denies that the region has the power to impose new powers on municipalities with fewer than 50.000 inhabitants. This means that the municipalities of Murcia, Cartagena, Lorca, and Molina de Segura are the only ones required to conduct environmental impact assessments and the reports required for the authorization of new business projects and urban development plans, contrary to the provisions of the decree on measures to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus, which includes the environmental reform.
The regional executive decree, which has not been approved by the Regional Assembly and is currently being processed as a bill, recognizes that municipalities with fewer than 20.000 inhabitants lack the resources and technical personnel to carry out the environmental functions performed by the Autonomous Community.
The Executive is offering these communities the opportunity to sign an agreement, which would stipulate that the local councils would entrust the regional administration with the preparation of the reports and carrying out the functions that the Community has transferred to them.
However, the report from the FMRM's legal services makes it clear that the Autonomous Community has no authority to transfer powers to local councils that are not contemplated in Articles 25 and 26 of the Local Government Foundations Law, which establish the obligations of local authorities. It refers to rulings by the Constitutional Court, which state that "the autonomous communities must respect the foundations of the local government," as well as municipal autonomy.
"The Constitutional Court has expressly identified Articles 2.1,25.2,26, 36, XNUMX, and XNUMX of the Local Government Foundations Law as the provisions in which 'the state legislature has established general criteria,' to which the autonomous communities must adhere when assigning or determining the powers of local authorities," the report highlights.
Furthermore, it specifies that the Community cannot transfer environmental powers to municipalities with fewer than 50.000 inhabitants. "In the case of projects subject to regional environmental authorization, the substantive body will be the regional ministry with environmental powers if the municipality where the facility is located does not exceed 50.000 inhabitants, and the city council in municipalities with a population of more than 50.000."
This means that only the city councils of Murcia, Cartagena, and Molina de Segura would have to accept the environmental obligations imposed by the Executive.
The paradox is that the reform introduced by the government reduces the deadline for completing certain reports from two months to one, while simultaneously establishing this process between local governments and the Ministry of the Environment, which will inevitably lengthen the necessary timeframes.
Although the lawyer for the Federation of Municipalities makes it clear that only "municipalities with a population of over 50.000 inhabitants must provide, as mandatory, environmental services," he points out that this does not mean that "it is appropriate to attribute, on a 'compulsory' basis, to the largest municipalities the powers inherent to an environmental body in relation to the environmental assessment of projects, plans, and programs."
It concludes that "the forced attribution of powers to municipalities, which entails the obligation to provide certain services on a mandatory basis, violates the minimum content or primary core that protects the institutional guarantee of local autonomy," in accordance with the Constitutional Court's rulings.
The Socialist Group in the Regional Assembly has already begun taking steps to appeal the reform to the Constitutional Court, although seven municipalities could also file an appeal.
Source: La Opinión de Murcia
