Plastic washes up in Spain and becomes a political issue – POLITICO

In the northern Spanish region of Galicia, the ruling Conservative Popular Party faces a damaging electoral challenge from another PP: plastic pollution.

Millions of microplastics have washed up on Galician beaches in the form of plastic pellets (raw plastic beads used in the manufacture of new products) since mid-December, following last month’s ship spill in the Atlantic Ocean. .

Its scale is astonishing. Environmental NGO Surfrider said more than 50 bags had been discovered so far, each of which could contain up to 1 million particles, and that the ship had lost more than 1,000 bags. He said it is being considered. The potential consequences are dire. These plastic particles do not naturally biodegrade and can accumulate in the bodies of animals, including fish and shellfish, before reaching humans as food.

“This is a giant white tide and an ecological disaster,” Surfrider said, warning that pollution “threatens the entire Atlantic coast.”

And with Galician elections looming on February 18, the headline-grabbing environmental crisis is quickly becoming a political issue for the PP. Despite the conservative regional government’s attempts to downplay the severity of the spill, opposition parties have criticized its actions compared to the PP’s response to the Prestige disaster, Spain’s worst oil spill 20 years ago. They are quick to criticize perceived deficiencies.

The issue has spilled over into Brussels, where centrist and left-wing MPs are using the incident to tout expanded rules for ships carrying such polluting plastics.

Galicia’s Marine Minister Alfonso Villares Bermúdez insists that all the fuss is overblown and that plastic consumption is essentially part of modern life.

“Anyone can accidentally eat plastic,” he told reporters in Spain on Wednesday. “They enter where they enter and exit where they exit” – referring to the gastrointestinal tract.

“We are not naive,” countered Teresa Rivera, the environment minister in Spain’s central government. His party, the Spanish Socialist Party, is currently in third place in Galicia. In a statement to POLITICO, he added, “Everyone recognizes that there are alarming issues that urgently need to be addressed.”

plastic pointing finger

Over the past week, regional and national governments have shifted blame for the crisis back and forth, as pollution continues to rise in Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria.

Almost a month after plastic pebbles first appeared on beaches, the conservative government of the Galician region this week raised the environmental emergency level from “1” to “2” following accusations of foot-dragging, and the central social specifically requested aid from the nationalist government.

Local governments point to reports suggesting plastic pellets are “not harmful” and shift the blame to states that have been slow to provide the data and take action needed to assess the situation.

“How long will you wait? I’m waiting for the ingredients to arrive without knowing if it’s in a container or not. [which fell from the ship, spilling the pellets] They are already empty or full,” Villares-Bermudez added on Wednesday. “We need to know that, and it is the state that is responsible for maritime safety and operations at sea.”

But the central government said it had long signaled it was ready to step in and help, and all the Conservatives had to do was make a request.

“In my opinion, this [the regional government] It has to do with the upcoming election,” Rivera told POLITICO.

Local politicians have also jumped on the issue and are trying to blame the local government. Marta Reus, the presidential candidate for Galicia’s leftist Xmal party, announced this week that she intends to sue the Galician government for “inactivity” and “failure to exercise its right to autonomy.”

A protest against the plastic wave is planned for January 21 in Galicia’s capital, Santiago de Compostela, led by environmental and fishing groups.

As expected, the PP has not made any concessions, accusing the opposition of just playing politics. Galicia’s regional government president, Alfonso Rueda, told Spanish media he was “concerned” about the impact of the leak on the election, as left-wing parties “went into campaign mode from the first moment.”

He said the opposition was running a “shameless campaign”. “People aren’t stupid either.”

EU enters

EU environment commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius discussed the spill with Rivera this week and agreed to meet with Spanish Socialist and Democratic Party MEPs. “Plastic pellets spilled onto the coast of Galicia threaten the marine environment and economic activities such as fishing,” he said. We would like to discuss how we can best assist you. ”

Environmentalists say there’s good reason to worry.

Although the effects of microplastics on human health remain unclear, research has demonstrated their harmful effects on marine life. Experiments on cells and animals have also shown some toxic effects, including DNA damage and organ dysfunction.

“At current production rates, the industry is already unable to prevent accidental spills and chronic leaks,” said Surfrider’s Lucy Padovani. “We can only expect pellet contamination incidents to only increase dramatically in frequency and magnitude.”

The EU is therefore working on new rules to deal with plastic pellet pollution, work that began before the Spanish crisis and imposing new requirements on companies using plastic pellets. Factories that use microplastics will need to prevent the release of plastic pellets and be responsible for cleaning up any spills.

In light of the Spanish incident, European parliamentarians on Thursday pushed for further legislation to regulate the transport of plastic pellets by sea. The European Commission, the EU’s executive agency, has stated that it may support intra-EU transport. João Albuquerque, a Portuguese socialist and Democrat, is the leading member of parliament on the issue and wants the regulation to apply to more companies that handle plastic pellets, with penalties for violators. It is proposed to strengthen the

“I think this example, although fundamentally very unfortunate, is a perfect example of why we need European legislation,” German Green Party lawmaker Ska Keller said in an interview. “We have a ship [heading to the Netherlands], there is a Polish palette, and there is also a Spanish sea. And such pellet loss must be prevented. ”

Deirdre Clune, a lawmaker working on the file for the European People’s Party, of which the Spanish People’s Party is a member, supported the committee’s proposal, but warned against stricter rules proposed by other lawmakers.

Albuquerque said he hoped the pellet spill in Spain would “soften EPP’s mind a little bit.”