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Cs wants Brussels to decide on the project, "the question we ask ourselves in Citizens is whether the social and economic benefits outweigh the environmental repercussions and if it is desirable and legally possible to compensate them in that area;

a legitimate question that we want the European Commission to answer "

Citizens will request in the next ordinary plenary session that the City Council promote the celebration of an event in Cartagena to publicly discuss the project of a container terminal in El Gorguel, already declared of Regional Strategic Interest.

The orange formation thus includes the recent proposal of Alfonso Hernández Zapata, president of the Infrastructure Commission of the Regional Confederation of Business Organizations of Murcia (CROEM) and president of the Regional Federation of Metal Employers of Murcia (FREMM).

In this public debate will be invited to participate, in addition to the Port Authority, the neighborhood associations, and the environmental groups that signed the manifesto against the El Gorguel project, and also all those civil society groups that referred to the Community the need to urge the central government to declare the Gorguel basin a National Strategic Interest, "a great act open to the public so that the citizens of Cartagena can judge the project in a transparent manner and with first-hand information", Explained the spokesman of Cs Cartagena, Manuel Padín, who recognizes that this strategic project, "is incredibly polarized and polluted by a war of data and reports from which we can hardly get some kind of certainty."

On the other hand, Ciudadanos has asked Podemos to respect the will of the Plenary of Cartagena and not try to confuse public opinion, "the decision to urge the Government of Spain to make the declaration of National Strategic Project only responds to the general interest of Cartagena. "

The proposal of Cs was approved with the votes of PP and MC and counted on the abstention of the PSOE, and the vote against Podemos, "66.6 percent of public representatives endorsed a path that began more than a decade with the aim of the European Union to decide whether the El Gorguel project is viable and desirable, while only 12 percent was opposed, "said the spokesman of Cs Cartagena who explained that" 30,000 jobs direct, 42,000 if we have the associated industrial activity according to data from the Port Authority, or know that the Port of Valencia moves to the year 500,000 containers of companies of the Region of Murcia, are just two of the many and powerful reasons to try that the project go ahead ".

The large ships for maritime transport that exist can not be accommodated by the infrastructures of our Port, "without a new dock of containers, the Region of Murcia and Cartagena will not become a true logistics pole," says Manuel Padin.

Currently, 130 million containers pass by in front of Cartagena "and are business opportunities that we are losing;

if there is the slightest possibility of getting a container port that can take advantage of the global merchandise traffic growth, our obligation as public representatives is to try, but with all the guarantees, "says Padín, who claims that after" twelve years of processing and public investments the time has come to know the response of the Ministry and of Brussels taking into account all the environmental aspects ".

Citizens remember that their position is shared by UMU and UPCT public universities, by the Chambers of Commerce of Murcia, Cartagena and Lorca, by business groups, CROEM, COEC and FREMM, professional associations, technology centers, agricultural associations, associations for the disabled and also by the residents of Cartagena directly affected by the current port of merchandise that sent written support through associations of the Santa Lucia neighborhood and surrounding areas.

"That populist formations like Podemos lie publicly is not something that we miss, but to say that the Escombreras dock is underused or that the El Gorguel project is not profitable seems an insult to the intelligence of anyone who knows the reality of traffic minimally port, "said the spokesman of the liberal party that says that" what does exist is a deep debate on environmental effects, so we want this debate is open to the public and that both blocks are present. "

Environmental impact

According to Manuel Padín "what Citizens will never do is lie, or minimize the importance of something to reinforce our position as we have done with the economic and labor reasons of the Gorguel project";

In Cs they do recognize the environmental impact that this area will suffer, "it is obvious that in any area of ​​the world where this project would be located there would be environmental consequences, the question we ask ourselves in Citizens is whether the social and economic benefits outweigh the environmental repercussions and if it is desirable and legally possible to compensate them in a protected place (by the SCI figures, Site of Community Importance, and ZEPA, Special Protection Area for Birds), a legitimate question that we want the Ministry and the European Commission to respond to. "

Therefore - in the opinion of the spokesman of Cs -, "it is important that they finish and know well the environmental reports that must gather the measures that generate an improvement in the habitats to compensate the possible damage to the Natura 2000 Network, possible solutions to counteract the impact".

In short, Cs only wants Brussels to pronounce itself, something it will not do if the project of National Strategic Interest is not declared.

Source: Ciudadanos Cartagena