Dispute over water plan continues

The opposition Popular Party (PP) called on Balearic environment minister Margalida Rosselló of Els Verds (the Greens) to resign, as she has been forced to accept several desalination plants to solve the islands' water problems. In a strong attack in parliament, PP spokesman Jaume Font said that “if she were not so attached to the official car she would have no reason for remaining in the government.” Font also said that it was a pity that the Balearic government should vote against the National Water Plan (PHN), and claimed that when Rossello says that central environment minister Jaume Matas is only offering desalination plants “she is deceiving voters.” According to Font most of the parties in the Balearic government had accepted most of the investments included in the PHN. But Rosselló dismissed the accusations and accused the opposition of “demagogy.” And she claimed that Matas, a former chief minister of the Balearics, “wants desalination plants in the Balearics, but not on the Peninsula.” She accused him of wanting to impose the construction of desalination plants in the Balearics to damage the ruling coalition, adding that he used the Greens' argument against them for the rest of the Peninsula: they consume a lot of energy and are expensive to run. Font also claimed that the Balearic government was the prisoner of the Greens over water policy, and accused them of applying ad hoc rather than definitive solutions to the water shortage. Rosselló, for her part, claimed that the PHN made no reference to the Balearics. She said that her department wanted to reach an agreement with Matas, but giving priority to what the citizens of the Balearics want. She also called on the Spanish Cabinet to approve the Balearic Water Plan, which has a budget of 100'000 million pesetas, as soon as possible.