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02-10-2024, 07:09 AM
The Archipelago "will continue to fight because it is not going to give up what it understands to be theirs" according to the Statute of Autonomy
The Canary Islands will defend "its interests" and will appeal, when it has it, the latest ruling of the Constitutional Court that rules that it is up to the Ministry of Ecological Transition, and not this autonomy, to decide whether the Riu Oliva Beach hotel in the Dunes of Corralejo has lost its concession due to non-compliance and, therefore, its demolition proceeds. This was advanced to journalists on Tuesday by the general director of Coasts of the Canary Islands Government, Antonio Acosta, before analysing with the 14 coastal municipalities of Gran Canaria the situation of each one in terms of coastal management.
"The litigation is the result of not wanting to negotiate, not wanting to recognize the powers that the Statute of Autonomy arrogates to us. The State understands that this is not the case, that there are issues that they stay directly and we understand the opposite and when there is no dialogue, all the specific issues, such as the issue of Oliva Beach, if the only solution is to go to court to defend the interests of the Canary Islands, we will be there," he said.
The head of the new department of the Canary Islands Executive has thus announced that "he will continue to fight and that if he has to return to court, he will do so", although he has stressed that the position of this Administration is to defend what is established in the "first transitory provision", without going into whether this hotel "does not comply with some of the parameters of the occupation of the public domain".
"We believe that it is up to the Canary Islands to assess this issue," said Acosta, who assured that this community "will continue to fight because it is not going to give up what it understands to be theirs", as established since 2018 by the Statute of Autonomy in force and supported by "countless reports", he said. "It is the responsibility of the Canary Islands to extinguish, or not, a concession, such as the one in force at the Oliva Beach hotel", a title on which the State wants to decide, he argued.
In its latest ruling, confirmed to Efe by sources from the Constitutional Court, the Court has ruled in favour of the Ministry the conflict of competences opened at the request of the Government of the Canary Islands, which understood that the State was arrogating to itself functions on the coast that correspond to the community since 1 January 2023.
On that date, the transfer of coastal powers in favour of the Government of the Canary Islands came into force, which therefore maintained that it should be the autonomous community that decided on the continuity of that hotel, built in the seventies of the last century. The Dunes of Corralejo were declared a Natural Park later, in 1982. And since 2003 the hotel had had a concession granted by the central government that regularized its situation and allowed it to continue occupying those lands, which are in the maritime-terrestrial public domain.
The same concession was extended in 2007 and extended again in 2016. However, Teresa Ribera's ministry detected that the company had undertaken a series of works and actions that, in its opinion, exceeded what was allowed in it and invalidated it, so it proceeded to declare its expiration, in a decision that has been opposed by the Government of the Canary Islands, both under the presidency of Ángel Víctor Torres (PSOE) and under the mandate of Fernando Clavijo (CC).
In July last year, the Government of the Canary Islands formally appeared in that file of demolition of the hotel to warn the State that it was no longer competent to decide on that concession. The plenary session of the Constitutional Court has unanimously resolved that this is not the case, that the Ministry of Ecological Transition continues to be the administration legally empowered to decide on the continuity of the Riu Oliva Beach hotel in the Dunes.
The ruling will be published in the coming days and will have as rapporteur César Tolosa, an expert in contentious administrative legislation (he presided over the chamber of that order both in the High Court of Justice of Cantabria and, later, in the Supreme Court). The sources consulted by Efe have specified that the Constitutional Court has only settled a conflict of competences in favour of the Ministry.
The Canary Islands will defend "its interests" and will appeal, when it has it, the latest ruling of the Constitutional Court that rules that it is up to the Ministry of Ecological Transition, and not this autonomy, to decide whether the Riu Oliva Beach hotel in the Dunes of Corralejo has lost its concession due to non-compliance and, therefore, its demolition proceeds. This was advanced to journalists on Tuesday by the general director of Coasts of the Canary Islands Government, Antonio Acosta, before analysing with the 14 coastal municipalities of Gran Canaria the situation of each one in terms of coastal management.
"The litigation is the result of not wanting to negotiate, not wanting to recognize the powers that the Statute of Autonomy arrogates to us. The State understands that this is not the case, that there are issues that they stay directly and we understand the opposite and when there is no dialogue, all the specific issues, such as the issue of Oliva Beach, if the only solution is to go to court to defend the interests of the Canary Islands, we will be there," he said.
The head of the new department of the Canary Islands Executive has thus announced that "he will continue to fight and that if he has to return to court, he will do so", although he has stressed that the position of this Administration is to defend what is established in the "first transitory provision", without going into whether this hotel "does not comply with some of the parameters of the occupation of the public domain".
"We believe that it is up to the Canary Islands to assess this issue," said Acosta, who assured that this community "will continue to fight because it is not going to give up what it understands to be theirs", as established since 2018 by the Statute of Autonomy in force and supported by "countless reports", he said. "It is the responsibility of the Canary Islands to extinguish, or not, a concession, such as the one in force at the Oliva Beach hotel", a title on which the State wants to decide, he argued.
In its latest ruling, confirmed to Efe by sources from the Constitutional Court, the Court has ruled in favour of the Ministry the conflict of competences opened at the request of the Government of the Canary Islands, which understood that the State was arrogating to itself functions on the coast that correspond to the community since 1 January 2023.
On that date, the transfer of coastal powers in favour of the Government of the Canary Islands came into force, which therefore maintained that it should be the autonomous community that decided on the continuity of that hotel, built in the seventies of the last century. The Dunes of Corralejo were declared a Natural Park later, in 1982. And since 2003 the hotel had had a concession granted by the central government that regularized its situation and allowed it to continue occupying those lands, which are in the maritime-terrestrial public domain.
The same concession was extended in 2007 and extended again in 2016. However, Teresa Ribera's ministry detected that the company had undertaken a series of works and actions that, in its opinion, exceeded what was allowed in it and invalidated it, so it proceeded to declare its expiration, in a decision that has been opposed by the Government of the Canary Islands, both under the presidency of Ángel Víctor Torres (PSOE) and under the mandate of Fernando Clavijo (CC).
In July last year, the Government of the Canary Islands formally appeared in that file of demolition of the hotel to warn the State that it was no longer competent to decide on that concession. The plenary session of the Constitutional Court has unanimously resolved that this is not the case, that the Ministry of Ecological Transition continues to be the administration legally empowered to decide on the continuity of the Riu Oliva Beach hotel in the Dunes.
The ruling will be published in the coming days and will have as rapporteur César Tolosa, an expert in contentious administrative legislation (he presided over the chamber of that order both in the High Court of Justice of Cantabria and, later, in the Supreme Court). The sources consulted by Efe have specified that the Constitutional Court has only settled a conflict of competences in favour of the Ministry.
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