The third vice president of the Government and minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge has described as a “letter to the Three Wise Men” and “great irresponsibility” the request of the Xunta de Galicia to the Government requesting “even a submarine” to face the discharge of pellets, “three times more than for the Prestige”.
“I am a little surprised, I must not be the only one seeing the number of memes that were spread yesterday on social networks regarding the request of the Real Navy by the Xunta de Galicia,” said Teresa Ribera, this Thursday in an informative breakfast organized by Nueva Economía Fórum at the Real Casino Gran Círculo in Madrid.
Faced with this “unfortunate episode” of the pellets, the third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition has criticized that the Xunta has gone from asking the mayors to work on the beaches to, “two days later” asking the Government for “practically all marine means of Maritime Rescue”, to “helicopters and a submarine”.
“Available? Totally available. But listen, man, don’t ask me three times more than what you asked for at the Prestige. Citizens appreciate when administrations collaborate, but don’t tell me that you don’t want what is useful and yet you send me a letter to the Three Wise Men that would leave the rest of the country without coverage and that would probably have little effectiveness,” he insisted.
Furthermore, he specified that this request represents “great irresponsibility because there may be episodes that require immediate assistance such as the rescue of” migrants on the high seas.
In any case, Ribera has expressed the opinion that the dumping of pellets is an “unfortunate episode” and that the Government is in a position to “help whoever requests it”, always “in accordance with the protocols and tools” and, in this case, He recalled that the Ribera Plan exists to act against episodes of marine pollution.
In statements to the media after the breakfast briefing, the third vice president of the Government specified that the Government delegate has already responded to that letter from the Xunta in which he declines the loan of the submarine and offers resources on land to collaborate in the cleanup. of pellets from the beaches.
In this response letter, as specified, it is explained that “the location where the cargo was lost is a location with very deep waters and it is impossible to use a submarine for who knows what”; that “the type of material that is generating these episodes is not identifiable in the sea” and that, “therefore, they are not the most accurate answers.”
In any case, it also indicates that they are “willing”, when “the Xunta deems it appropriate”, to contribute their “resources on land to carry out a quick clean-up” on the beaches. Specifically, he has said that they already have operations in Asturias and that this Wednesday they contacted Cantabria, and that they continue with surveillance tasks on all coastal vessels.
