The Junts and PP officials who rebel against the expansion of El Prat airport

BarcelonaWhile political tensions are growing in Spain, amidst the alleged cases of corruption surrounding the PSOEIn Catalonia, the Government announced on June 10, the El Prat airport expansion project, after reaching an agreement with Aena and the Ministry of Transport. The executive explained an agreement to the affected municipalities, drawing considerable criticism from El Prat de Llobregat and Castelldefels. The project also affects Ricarda (now also Remolar), as it did in 2021, and has prompted the ERC (Republican Workers' Party), Comuns (Communist Party), and the CUP (Cup) to speak out.This Saturday there was a demonstration in Barcelona—. But not only that: although Junts –with nuances– and the PP have always endorsed it at the national level, their local sections in El Prat and Castelldefels –where the PP governs with Manuel Reyes– also say No on the expansion of El Prat Airport.

Juntos has always been in favor of the expansion of El Prat Airport—it promoted it, unlike ERC, when it was in government—but this term it has not wanted to explicitly support the government's new expansion project because it does not include the transfer of management to the Generalitat (Catalan government). However, the position of its local branch in the affected areas is different. Junts pel Prat and Junts Castelldefels have shown frontal opposition to the expansion project since 2021—then with a head-on clash with the Catalan government and its leader, former vice president Jordi Puigneró. Now they are happy that the Junts leadership does not endorse the model validated by the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and they continue to fight, according to ARA.

The PP in Castelldefels and El Prat is directly opposed to the party's position, which is in favor of this expansion, but "prioritizes" their municipality, according to their comments. The case of Castelldefels is unusual in that the mayor, Manuel Reyes (PP), is leading a crusade against the expansion, distancing himself from his party and parliamentary group. Reyes is also a member of parliament and deputy spokesperson in the Catalan Parliament, as well as president of the PP in Barcelona, ​​​​but he prioritizes "the health of the residents of Castelldefels," he assures ARA. On the contrary, PP sources comment that the party has "a clear position" in favor of the project, although they "understand" that he has a "municipal position."

In these two towns, there is a broad consensus against the expansion, including on the center-right, while the PSC, which was a strong opponent four years ago, has now distanced itself from the clear rejection expressed in the Castelldefels municipal plenary session. In El Prat, meanwhile, the Socialists have been gentle, defending that the protection of the Llobregat Delta remains their "priority," but have avoided criticism by saying that this is also "the commitment of the PSC and President Illa."

Opposition and alternatives

In conversation with ARA, the four municipal leaders from Junts and the PP prioritize their cities and hope the project will be derailed or killed by Europe. Reyes complains that "the local community has not participated in the project" and that the government has not defended "people's health." He wonders "what it means to go from 55 million passengers to 70 million," as the expansion envisions, and concludes: "They are spraying the population." He argues that his city would go from having a plane flying over it every 50 seconds or so to one every 30 seconds: "It will make it impossible for people to be at home and on the streets due to noise and environmental pollution, the air we breathe," he maintains. However, he comments that he is not opposed to economic progress or tourism, but that it is at the expense of "health." He understands the position of his party colleagues "for the general interest of the airport," but demands to understand its effects. Even in the last plenary session of Parliament, he could have voted against the expansion, but he didn't because the Comuns motion "mixed it with criticism of tourism": "If there was a point against the airport expansion, if I have to break voting discipline, I will, because I don't want it," he asserts.

Along the same lines, the councilor for the Junts in Castelldefels, Xavier Amate, points out that they are not opposed to expanding Catalan airport infrastructure, but rather to this airport. "There shouldn't be a debate between economic growth and environmental preservation; everything must be combined," he emphasizes. He also explains the "internal work" to reach a consensus within Junts and insists that governance is the key to solving these problems. "All parties have major contradictions, but what Junts is doing is smart, focusing on governance so that problems can be resolved from here. In 2021, Junts made a mistake," adds Gerard Valverde, Junts councilor in El Prat.

Beyond the impact on health, Amate also recalls the struggle of citizen platforms since the airport has grown exponentially with the triumph of low-cost. In this sense, Valverde adds that they are against it to "protect the environment, because it is a protected area and because the reasons for the expansion and how it is implemented do not coincide." In addition, he reviews historical grievances: having to divert the Llobregat River to expand the port, the third runway, the burying of the AVE (High Speed Train), and the failure to comply with the economic and environmental compensation provisions of the Delta Plan, which stated that "the structural changes to the city were already finalized."

For his part, Popular Party councilor Miguel Ángel Ochoa from El Prat states that "52% of El Prat is occupied by infrastructure of general interest: a port, an airport, a wastewater treatment plant, and a desalination plant... the municipality's efforts have been more than fulfilled." He understands that Isla and the PP accept the expansion for the economic opportunity, but rejects it "thinking about the territory." On the other hand, all voices put forward an alternative project: the expansion of Girona airport with connectivity to Barcelona via the AVE (High Speed Train), as well as promoting Reus, as proposed by former minister Íñigo de la Serna in 2018. Valverde also proposes studying various possibilities such as prioritizing the long runway for long-haul flights.