The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has convened a Sectorial Conference on the Environment for July 18, according to regional sources. Among other topics, the agenda includes the approval of the six-year reports that the Government must send to Brussels before the end of July, including the one on wolves.
Transición Ecológica sources told Europa Press that if there are autonomous communities (CCAA) that do not approve the census, the Government could send the six-year report to Brussels indicating that there are CCAA that do not agree.
The Asturian Government continues to defend population controls of the species, in order to achieve a balance between the wolf situation and the economic development of agricultural and livestock activities.
The wolf census was to be analyzed at the end of June in the Sectorial Commission on the Environment, but the autonomous communities governed by the PP demanded a new meeting by letter after denouncing that they had not received any information on the matter beforehand, something that Transición Ecológica later denied.
This Commission — which, unlike the Sectorial Conference, brings together general directors and not regional councilors — was criticized by the PP for its «rough, disrespectful, confrontational, and inappropriate tone.» In fact, the autonomous communities wrote to the Minister, Sara Aagesen, to demand the resignation or dismissal of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morán, for his conduct during the meeting.
Transición Ecológica sources informed the media before the Sectorial Commission that the wolf census revealed 333 packs — 12% more than the previous one — and between 1,600 and 1,700 individuals. Based on this data, they stated that the species is in a «negative» state in Spain and, therefore, there cannot be «lethal controls,» referring to a judgment from the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) in 2024.
Among other issues, several autonomous communities expressed during the Sectorial Commission the «profound institutional disloyalty» of making a state document public «that is not only not approved by the competent body, which is the Sectorial Conference, but was unknown and certainly does not coincide with the rigorous and technical analysis carried out by each autonomous community,» according to the PP.
In response, Aagesen also replied by letter stating that her Department «always acts in good faith and with institutional respect,» and that this was done at the end of June during the Sectorial Commission meeting. Looking ahead to the next meeting, she expressed confidence that it will take place in an atmosphere of «constructive dialogue and cooperation between administrations.»
Additionally, the Minister emphasized that Transición Ecológica had not made public the six-year report on wolves for the 2019-2024 period. She also noted that it was sent to the CCAA on Thursday, June 26, a day before the Sectorial Commission meeting.
Between one meeting and the next, the Ombudsman has filed a constitutional challenge with the Constitutional Court against the provisions of Law 1/2025 on the Prevention of Food Loss and Waste, which in practice allow the hunting of the canid in Spain to resume.
