In Codo in the province of Zaragoza On Thursday, the Vecinal de Codo por la Tierra, el Agua y la Salud platform called on the mayor and town council to disclose the criteria used to select sites for four planned pig farms and the source of the water needed to operate them. The initiative points out that the municipality has had no drinkable tap water since 2023. According to the platform, three of the proposed plots belong to relatives of the mayor Raúl Cuevas, who is also a member of the Spanish Congress of Deputies and belongs to the Partido Popular (PP).
The latest demands were prompted by a statement from the Partido Popular’s Zaragoza provincial branch the previous day. Its chairman Ramón Celma had downplayed the controversy in view of forthcoming elections, saying, “there’s nothing to it”. The residents’ platform rejected this. Its statement to the parties represented in the regional parliament and to the media said that the debate over the projects had been going on for months and was not prompted by the electoral calendar.
The main issue is a possible conflict of interest: according to consistent local reports, the four proposals were classified by the municipal council as projects of public interest, or were being prepared for such a decision. Cuevas is said to have initially taken part and later withdrawn from the proceedings because of the family’s links to the plots. No final official decisions on permits have been confirmed so far; the matter is reportedly due to be discussed again in plenary.
The key outstanding question is the water supply. The platform is seeking information on whether, and in what volumes, the operators plan to use water, and whether the relevant permits have been Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro applied for or granted. Environmental assessments by the Instituto Aragonés de Gestión Ambiental may also be required. Town council representatives have not yet explained these points publicly in detail.
The controversy touches on several areas: legally, the duty to prevent conflicts of interest and ensure transparency in municipal decisions; practically, resource planning in a region grappling with water scarcity; and politically, the responsibility of party bodies when projects intersect with personal and public interests. What happens next depends on the documents presented by the municipal council, the opinions of the water and environmental authorities, and further consideration by the local bodies. The platform’s statements and local media reports are documented; final official decisions are still pending.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).