The Socialist Party (PS) has today accused the government of exerting “illegitimate pressure” on entities responsible for environmental impact assessments – such as the ICNF (institute of nature conservation and forestries) and APA (Portuguese environment agency), requesting an urgent hearing in parliament with the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, José Manuel Fernandes.
In a statement, the Socialist parliamentary group explains that, just this week, two ministers have publicly ‘demanded’ that environmental authorities “not comply with the law” – referring to statements by the Minister of Economy and Territorial Cohesion, Manuel Castro Almeida, and the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, José Manuel Fernandes.
Regarding the Minister of Economy, the Socialist Party recalls that the minister, “in a hearing at the Assembly of the Republic, accused the Ministry of the Environment of being a blocking force and the main party responsible for the lack of execution of EU funds.”
Regarding the Minister of Agriculture, the Socialists refer to a video sent to technicians at the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF), in which José Manuel Fernandes appealed for proactivity and argued that when legislation prevents the implementation of projects, one should question whether the law makes sense – reminding them that it can be changed.
Following a news report in Público about this video, the minister called over social media for the resignation of officials responsible for disseminating its content – accusing them of being “liars, cowards, and radicals.” But nothing that he is alleged to have said contradicts the video that he himself has now posted online.
The way the Socialist Party (PS) sees it, the minister wants the ICNF (Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests) to “approve what the law does not allow”, and conveyed to the institute that, in certain situations, the executive “will change the law to approve specific projects that do not comply with current national and international legal parameters for the defence of biodiversity and nature conservation.”
Socialists say these positions reveal a “very dangerous denialist view” of the government “regarding the need to preserve nature and the international agreements undertaken by the country” – further accusing the executive of an “unprecedented attack on the independence of public administration and the defence of the environment”, which they say “is totally unacceptable.”
To be fair, this is the view of hundreds of people desperately fighting projects – particularly when it comes to the mining of lithium in the north and centre.
This latest story is just another in a series of ‘concerns’ that the government is striving to ‘water down’ agency powers (so that it can see projects that are often unpopular ‘approved’). These projects include the massive solar plant known lyrically as Sophia, which has generated a tsunami of local discontent.
Source material: LUSA/ Público/ Facebook
