Nov 12 - Verdemar Should Not Be Used As Political Tool Says GSD
The Leader of the GSD Opposition has today said he notes the statement issued by the Spanish Environmental Group Verdemar which is “laced with political undertones and innuendo.”
Rather than interfering in Gibraltar politics as they are prone to doing from time to time, the GSD says that the group should instead look at the impact of huge land reclamations which have taken place in Algeciras or the impact of certain types of nets used in BGTW by Spanish Fishermen which has resulted in the death of many marine animals, including dolphins and turtles.
While the GSD says that it would not have built the power station or the LNG installation on the North and Detached Moles respectively, it trusts that the Gibraltar Government will undertake all the necessary Environmental Impact Assessments and if there is a transboundary effect, will notify the Spanish authorities accordingly. It is more than the Spanish authorities have done in notifying Gibraltar, says the Opposition, of land reclamations that have taken place on their side which may have had a transboundary effect but, the party insists, Gibraltar must always maintain the high moral ground and comply with EU obligations as it has always done. Environmental organisations perform a useful and necessary role in the modern world, concludes the GSD, but Verdemar should not allow themselves to be “used as another tool to prevent Gibraltar from developing economically for political reasons.“
