During the visit, they will meet with political representatives at national, regional and local level. They will also meet experts, scientists, employers and trade unions to hear their views.
A delegation from the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee will travel to Spain from 23-25 February in connection with a petition calling for an investigation into the environmental degradation of the Mar Menor natural area.
The delegation will be led by Tatjana Zdanoka MEP (Greens, Latvia) and will include Loránt Vincze MEP (EPP, Romania), Alex Agius Saliba MEP (S&D, Malta), Michal Wiezik MEP (Renew, Slovakia), Kosma Zlotowski MEP (ECR, Poland) and Alexis Georgoulis MEP (The Left, Greece).
They will also be joined by Spanish MEPs Dolors Montserrat (EPP), Marcos Ros Sempere (S&D), María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos (Renew), Jorge Buxadé (ECR) and Sira Rego (The Left).
Programme
The visit will begin on 23 February with a meeting with the petitioners, including citizens, environmentalists and political representatives, among others.
Afterwards, the delegation will meet with the President of the Region of Murcia, Fernando López Miras, and other regional authorities. At the end of the meeting, the head of the delegation will make statements to the press (16.30, Hotel NH Amistad. c/Condestable, 1 Murcia).
The delegation will then meet with the mayors of Cartagena, Los Alcázares, San Javier, San Pedro del Pinatar, La Unión and Torre-Pacheco.
The MEPs will then hold a meeting with the relevant Spanish authorities, including the Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morán, the Government Delegate in the Region of Murcia, José Vélez, the President of the Mancomunidad de los Canales del Taibilla, Francisca Baraza, among others.
On Thursday 24, the MEPs will visit the affected areas of the Mar Menor: El Albujón, Salinas de Marchamalo, Los Urrutias, Santiago de la Ribera, the Regional Park of Salinas de San Pedro and Saladar Lo Poyo.
In the afternoon MEPs will meet with scientists from the University of Murcia, such as Professor of Ecology Angel Perez Ruzafa, the former director of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography Julio Mas, Professor of Marine Sciences at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Alicante Francisca Gimenez, among others.
In addition, the MEPs will hold a meeting with social organisations from the area such as the Black Flags collective, Por un Mar Menor Vivo, Colectivo SOS Mar Menor, etc.
This will be followed by a meeting with employers and trade unions, which will be attended, among others, by the president of the Regional Confederation of Business Organisations of Cartagena, Ana Correa, the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Cartagena, Miguel Martínez, the secretary general of ASAJA Murcia, Alfonso Gálvez, among others.
Finally, on the morning of the 25th, the delegation will receive the spokespersons of all the parliamentary groups in the Regional Assembly: Francisco Lucas (PSOE), Joaquín Segado (PP), Francisco Alvarez García (Ciudadanos), Juan José Liarte (Vox) and María Martín (Mixed Group, Podemos).
Afterwards, MEPs will hold another meeting with experts to discuss the concluding remarks of the visit.
At the end of the visit, at 12.30 pm, a press conference will be held to take stock of the visit.