Outrage after activists claim over €26 million of EU ‘green’ funds being spent on cable car at Spanish ski resort  

Activists in Spain have called the European Union to investigate the use of the funds aimed to join two ski resorts in the Pyrenees  

Environmental activists in Spain have said that €26.4 million of “green” economic recovery funds from the European Union are being spent on ski resorts in Spain.  

Five activist groups have also sent a delegation to Brussels to meet with European Union officials in order to investigate the case.  

The funds are reportedly being used to join two ski stations located in the Pyrenees mountain range, as activists argue, this violates the conditions.  

“This is a space of enormous environmental quality, and serves as a green corridor for the passage of animal populations such as the bearded vulture or other flora and fauna characteristic of the area,” says Marina Gros, spokesperson for Ecologists in Action, as cited by EuroNews.  

She added, “These funds – supposedly for sustainable tourism- are being dedicated more than 80% to only four projects (in Aragon) based on snow-based tourism”.

The plan for this project was approved by Spain’s tourism ministry in December and aims to join the resorts of Astún-Candanchú and Formigal with an 8-km cable car.

The funds which are part of the EU’s €724 billion COVID recovery programme are meant for supporting member states to “build a greener, more digital and more resilient future with stringent rules on impacting biodiversity, water use and carbon emissions”.

Ecologists in Action have also joined along with groups such as Greenpeace and World Wildlife Fund to take this issue to the European Union, after they failed to stop it domestically within Spain.

A petition to stop the cable car project has also been initiated at Change.org, where over 50,000 signatures have already been gathered.

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