Mazón announces in La Vila that the Generalitat will request coastal management powers

La Vila Joiosa was the chosen venue this Monday for the President of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazón, to announce that the Consell will formally request the Spanish Government to transfer powers for the management of the Valencian coast. The request will be made at the plenary session on June 17, based on Article 49 of the Statute of Autonomy, which recognises the autonomous administration's exclusive competence in territorial planning, including the coast.

"This is a qualitative improvement in management that we are willing to undertake to responsibly and closely manage what is ours through self-government," stated Mazón during the presentation of the new Valencian Coastal Protection and Management Law, an event held in La Vila Joiosa attended by the Minister of Environment, Vicente Martínez Mus; the Minister of Innovation, Marián Cano; the President of the Valencian Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, Paqui Bartual; and the Mayor of La Vila Joiosa, Marcos Zaragoza, among other authorities.

The head of the Consell explained that the request to the central government will include the transfer of assets and services, the distribution of powers, the transfer of personnel, movable and immovable property, and the corresponding financial resources. "This is the final step to have a regulatory framework consistent with the needs of our coast and those who live on and from it," he emphasised.

Mazón justified this initiative by stating that "70% of the Valencian population, the environment, and an essential part of the economic drive of the Community coexist in our coastal strip," considering it "necessary to maintain this drive that is so ours so that the coast continues to be the place where progress is found."

In his speech, the president highlighted the new regional regulation as a "flexible, clear, and secure" legal tool that will allow the Valencian coast to be reorganised, protected, and improved from a balanced perspective. "Human activity can be cared for while preserving the natural environment," he defended, while denouncing the "false dichotomy between progress and the environment."

The newly approved Valencian Coastal Protection and Management Law regulates both general and specific planning instruments for the coast, includes a beach cataloguing system, and lays the groundwork for reformulating the Territorial Action Plan for the Green Infrastructure of the Coast (Pativel).

The law establishes three types of coastal areas (environmental protection, environmental and landscape improvement, and reorganisation) and incorporates provisions to monitor state resolutions that may harm the Valencian coast.

Moreover, it is the first regional law to expressly recognise the importance of preserving marine biodiversity. Among its objectives is the protection of Posidonia oceanica, considered the "lung of the sea" for its ability to oxygenate and filter coastal waters.

The presentation of the law in La Vila Joiosa symbolises, Mazón concluded, the Generalitat's commitment to the coastal municipalities of the province of Alicante, whose economies and natural environments closely depend on the proper use and conservation of the coast.