The Somport tunnel is a priority between communications in the north of Spain and the south of France. However, the damage caused by DANA they destroyed the road RN 134which remains closed since September 6. Now the ball is in the Government of Francewhich does not seem to have the intention of speeding up its repair, and which has estimated that it will take at least six months reestablish communications. A time that is too long and whose economic consequences could be devastating for the regions of Aragon and the High Pyrenees, which require their repair to be accelerated.
The storms caused serious damage to both the Bielsa tunnelas in tSomport junction. The Bielsa tunnel, affected by landslides between both slopes, is being repaired by the Government of Aragon, and hopes that it will bethis friday reopens, as the Minister of Development, Housing, Logistics and Territorial Cohesion has promised, Octavio Lopez, who has led a delegation of the European Grouping for Cross-Border Cooperation (AECT) Pyrenees-Pyrénées.
Regarding the Somport tunnelthe will depends on both countries. The Azcón Executive is putting all its efforts, but the French Government announced that it would take longer. What will affect 1,600 vehicles daily who travel along this route, as calculated by the PP in Europe, of which 300 are transporters who use it on their transnational routes.
The Somport tunnel and the DANA
This situation has unleashed all the alarms between the Government of Aragon and the region of the French High Pyrenees, due to the economic collapse which may lead to a delay in the solution of the problem by the French Executive, which is the competent administration to repair the road that was devastated by the passage of the DANA, causing a collapse at km 109.8 that affected the road in both directions.
Business organizations such as CEOE Aragón wave Jacetania Business Association have denounced the devastating economic impact that the deadline set by France to fix RN 134 and reopen the border crossing, vital for businesses in the area and for the more than 300 transporters that cross it, would have for the area.
At the institutional level, the plenary session of the Cortes of Aragon approved last Friday a statement in which it urges to repair the road and restore trans-Pyrenean communications through this step urgently and the Pyrenees-Pyrénées EGTC itself requested that same day a meeting with all cross-border representatives with the aim of sharing solutions and shortening the closure of the road as much as possible. Somport cross-border route.
«We are here political representatives of Aragon and of the two French Departments affected by this outage so that we can be heard and a request that is fair and reasonable», pointed out Octavio López, who has asked the French Executive «to mobilize the necessary resources in the same way that Aragon is doing so that the effects of the storm on the roads that concern us are as short as possible and that the damage to “Citizens and companies on both sides of the mountain range are minors and their viability is not at risk.”
Members of the entourage
In this context, this Tuesday, the European Group for Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) Pyrenees-Pyrénées, of which the Autonomous Community of Aragon, the Provincial Council of Huesca (DPH), the Department of Hautes-Pyrénées and the Department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques have demanded, together with the Somport tunnel, an immediate response from the French Government.
On behalf of the Government of Aragon, the Minister of Development, Housing, Logistics and Territorial Cohesion and currently president of the aforementioned EGTC has traveled to the site, Octavio Lopez; the general director of Transport and vice president of the area responsible for Cross-border Infrastructure and Mobility at the EGTC, Miguel Ángel Anía; the general director of Roads and Infrastructure, Miguel Ángel Arminioand the chief of staff of the Department of Development, the latter two also members of the Assembly of the EGTC Pyrenees-Pyrénées.
The Provincial Council of Huesca has been represented by its president, Isaac Claver, and for Jesus Gericómayor of Sallent de Gállego and vice president responsible for the Territorial Development Area of the EGTC.
On the French side, the Department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques has attended Clement Servatvice president responsible for the Innovation and Transition Area of the EGTC, and the Department of Hautes-Pyrénées has attended Maryse Beyrievice president responsible for the Tourism Area.
At the European Commission
Furthermore, this Tuesday, in the plenary session of the European Parliament held in Strasbourg, both the Aragonese MEP of the PP, Borja Gimenez Abadas Rosa Maria Serranoof the PSOE, claimed in the European Commission accelerate the reopening between border crossings. In this sense, the popular MEP urged the Commission to activate a mechanism such as the Solidarity Reserve and Emergency Aid (SEAR) to offer a rapid response to the natural disaster and guarantee the border transport of goods, especially this very strategic route.
For her part, the socialist from Huesca asked her to justify “the duration of the works». “If this is not justified, we will ask the European Commission to intervene to demand the reopening of the crossing,” he added.
