The Spanish government plans to appeal the law approved by the Catalan Parliament which addresses the exceptional situation of drought in Catalonia before the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC), according to newspaper Ara and confirmed by David Mascort, Catalan minister of Climate Action, on Monday. Pedro Sanchez's government began proceedings to challenge the law endorsed by the Catalan Parliament with ERC, Junts and the PSC's votes last week, in the middle of the election campaign. The Catalan government has already received the relevant notification about the start of the proceedings to challenge the law.
Pedro Sánchez's government intends to challenge the aspects of the law which allow public administrations emergency contract works against the drought, such as improving the connection of water supply networks or water treatment processes. The Catalan government maintains, as the newspaper states, that this measure is foreseen in state law, while Madrid points out that assumptions are made in the law approved by the Catalan Parliament that do not respect legality. The Catalan government criticizes that with this decision, the Spanish government endangers services that are already underway or in the bidding process to fight against the drought that affects Catalonia this year.
Contracting of emergency works
David Mascort, Catalan minister of Climate Action, Agriculture and Food, warned that the Spanish government's appeal against the Catalan drought law before the Spanish Constitutional Court “calls into question” the contracting of emergency works. “The Spanish Government intends to take this law to Spain's Constitutional Court so that we can not make the necessary works and investments with the required speed," he criticized in an interview on TV3. Mascort detailed that the Catalan government received the notification on Thursday or Friday of last week, and that it would mean the suspension “of the whole law, not just these articles", which would affect the set of measures proposed by the Catalan administration.
Negotiation period
Once the Spanish government communicated the challenge against articles 1 and 2 and the first and second annexes of the law approved by the Catalan Parliament, a period begins so that both parties can reach an agreement and avoid the Constitutional Court's intervention. In the event that this does not happen, the matter would go to the court. Should the court accept the appeal, the affected articles would be suspended. Apparently, according to newspaper Ara, the Catalan government has no intention of making a move.