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The agrarian sector calls for the resignation of Luis Planas for “giving in to nationalism” in the cava war

“The Extremadura countryside cannot be a bargaining chip for assignments with nationalisms as has happened with the cava conflict, we will not allow it.” This is how forceful the Extremadura agricultural sector has manifested itself today after the final ruling of the Supreme Court declaring null the limitations on the cultivation of cava that had been imposed by the Regulatory Council of the Denomination of Origin (in the hands of the Catalan industry), after transferring the powers of its regulation to the Government of Pedro Sánchez when historically they were under the authority of the Ministry of Agriculture.

The reaction has also come from the political sphere. The Junta de Extremadura, which filed the appeal against the Royal Decree approved by the Government of Spain, will request to expand production in the sector, which was limited for three years (until 2022) to a pyrrhic rise of 0, 1% hectares of production throughout Spain, which affected the development of the incipient market for sales of cava bottles in Extremadura (Almendralejo) and the Valencian Community (Requena), to the detriment of Catalonia, the historic cradle of this sparkling wine, but which has suffered in recent years from the boycott campaign created against the consumption of Catalan products.

The Minister of Agriculture, Begoña García Bernal, who appeared this Monday at a press conference to assess the decision of the Supreme Court, has distanced himself from the desire of the agrarian organizations, which have demanded the dismissal of Luis Planas for “giving in to nationalism” in this cava war that started ago already several years. The socialist councilor has asked to stop “resigning” and has invited “everyone to work on the same line, everyone to row”, he said to announce, in turn, that Extremadura will request the concession of new hectares Replanting and plantation areas for the region in DO Cava for the next three years taking into account a “sustained growth” of the sector.

GarcÃa Bernal has highlighted that “the reason has been given again” to the Junta de Extremadura in the “férrea” defense that it has made for the Extremadura cava sector. Specifically, as EL MUNDO published this past Saturday, the Supreme Court annulled two articles of the ministerial order (Royal Decree 1338/2018, of October 29), which eliminated the consultation that had to be made to the autonomous communities to the time to restrict plantings

Extremadura then took legal action against said text, considering that a “relevant and inexplicable” role of the Regulatory Council materialized as in charge of adopting the decision on the limitations of areas with a view to new authorizations for cava plantations, since the recommendation of this body was binding on ministerial decision-making.

Following this ruling, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food now “is obliged to consult the communities”, with the Ministry itself being in charge of making the decision to restrict production or not, but always in a “motivated manner, with reports and consulting “the parties involved, including the affected autonomous communities, who had been silenced after the latest ministerial order.

In this sense, the agrarian organizations Asaja Extremadura and Apag Extremadura have requested the dismissal of the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, considering that “a group with specific and localized interests cannot be allowed to tell everyone else what they may or may not do “, while they have affirmed, in a joint communiqué, that” the Extremadura countryside cannot be a bargaining chip for concessions with nationalisms, we will not allow it. ”

Both organizations have agreed to request the resignation of the minister for “having allowed an injustice as great as that a region could decide, unilaterally, on rights that affected the entire country.” In the opinion of these organizations, represented by à ?? ngel GarcÃa Blanco and Juan Metidieri, respectively, the sentence is a “real judicial setback” against the decision of Luis Planas, so that now “he must present his resignation to the make a decision that was not in accordance with the law and that he upheld, despite warnings that it was neither legal nor fair. ”

In this sense, the Minister of Agriculture in Extremadura recalled that “we always said that our cava producers in Tierra de Barros had more growth capacity, and apart from this aspect, they could not be deprived of having a voice and vote when deciding the future of their plantations before the oligopolies of northern Spain “.

RIGHTS OF REPLANTATION

Extremadura organizations recall that this Royal Decree allowed the Protected Designation of Origin Cava, “whose governing body is located in Catalonia”, to decide on the restrictions relating to the authorizations of new plantations, replantation and conversion “of rights of replanting in the areas delimited by this DO throughout Spain, which therefore “meant that in Catalonia it could be decided how much and how it could be planted in Almendralejo”.

In this way, they value that “what underlies is a limitation in production to areas in expansion in other geographical areas, such as Extremadura, preserving those that no longer have more capacity for growth, such as Catalonia “, they assure. In addition, these organizations consider that the court ruling recognizes that these powers cannot be of this Denomination of Origin over the entire territory, but that it is a matter of the Ministry of Agriculture, which “supposes an accolade and recognition to the producers of cava from Extremadura and other regions not located in Catalonia “, as well as a setback for the Minister of Agriculture

They have also highlighted the work carried out by the Department of Agriculture, since thanks to the filing of the judicial appeal it has been possible to “stop this outrage and it has prevented Catalonia from deciding at ease on the future of this product” , of great expansion in Extremadura.

Finally, they have described as “ironic” the statements of the agrarian organization of La Union, congratulating themselves on the ruling, “when this agrarian organization has been one of the co-defendants in the judicial procedure and one of the losers as defender of the privileges of the PDO, despite how damaging it was for Extremadura “, they conclude.

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