Macarena Olona, a deputy for Granada and secretary general of the VOX Parliamentary Group, today requested the Congress of Deputies to provide, within a maximum period of 30 days, the study on the needs for travel by sea that includes the connection between Melilla and Motril, a route that VOX considers essential for the economic development of the Granada coast and of the entire province, given the logistical and tourist value of our port.
Last February, Macarena Olona insisted on the need to tender the maritime passenger transport line that connects the ports of Motril and Melilla, since the PSOE-Podemos government had denied state aid to the Granada dock. Given this, The VOX deputy for Granada presented several questions to urge the Central Executive to reconsider the decision and not marginalize such an important maritime journey for our future.
To Macarena Olona's questions, the Government has replied that «the National Commission of Markets and Competition issued, at the request of the Autonomous City of Ceuta, an opinion dated November 29, 2018 in which it questioned the current content of the Royal Decree on regular maritime cabotage lines and navigations of public interest, a document that formulates a series of general recommendations of the legal regime of these routes ».
Given the explanations that Macarena Olona asks to start this maritime line as soon as possible, the Government of Pedro Sánchez excuses himself that "through the General Directorate of the Merchant Marine of the Ministry of Transport, he has commissioned a study to determine the needs of movement by sea, the determining factors and the adjustment of the current regulation, for Ceuta, Melilla, and the Balearic and Canary Islands ».
Through the aforementioned study, according to the Government's response, «it is intended to have a detailed knowledge of the demands for maritime transport to and from extra-peninsular territories that will allow, where appropriate, to adapt the mechanisms of administrative intervention to the real demands and which will include the analysis of the connection between Melilla and Motril », and therefore the VOX deputy for Granada urges that the content of this report be made public.
Questions to the Congress of Deputies.
The VOX deputy for Granada, accompanied by Manuel Martín Montero, provincial president of VOX, presented a battery of questions to the table of the Congress of Deputies to urge the Central Executive to act on the tender for the Melilla-Motril line.
In turn, Macarela Olona asked for explanations on the deadlines for the modification of the Royal Decree that determines the legal regime of regular maritime cabotage lines and public interest shipping, in order to include the Motril-Melilla line in the routes of general interest to the State.
Last December, the Official State Gazette (BOE) published that the Granada dock was once again out of state aid, which in the opinion of VOX is discrimination and damage to the economy of our province, in addition to putting Hundreds of jobs in port and on the coast are at risk.
Given the unjust and arbitrary decision of the Government, Macarena Olona demands to rectify and include the Motril-Melilla line in these grants and thus improve competitiveness compared to the other ports that receive this type of subsidy.
