Speaking to Lusa News Agency, João Eduardo Martins said that MALP “was not surprised” by the news delivered by newspaper Expresso on Saturday, which revealed the State Secretary for Energy, Jorge Seguro Sanches, authorised the extension of the exploration rights of the ‘Lavagante’, ‘Santola’ and ‘Gamba’ concessions, located off the Vicentine coast, for another year.
“Once again, the government of António Costa is disrespecting the citizens of the Algarve completely. (...)There is a clear alliance between the Government of António Costa and the oil companies and that goes against the need for sustainable development of the Algarve, and at a time when the Algarve was chosen as the best tourist destination in the world”, João Eduardo Martins said.
Mr. Martins explained that despite an initial public consultation in which more than 40,000 people showed their objection, “it was disrespected and thrown to the dustbin, and the government decided to allow the prospecting of oil.”
“Then, the Assembly of the Republic legislated giving the understanding that local authorities would be consulted. The municipalities gave a ‘no’ to the extension of the term of oil prospecting offshore, and once again the Government has ignored it” he slammed.
MALP says it believed the Environment Ministry should now “do what it is supposed to put the environment before the interests of oil companies’ power and money.”
The movement has therefore asked the President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, to intervene “in the interest of the Algarve and the Vicentine Coast.”
Over the weekend Expresso reported that the State Secretary for Energy justified the decision, signed on January 8, on the grounds that “the request was supported by administrative and legal requirements (referring to consultation with councils and approval of monitoring programmes for vulnerable marine ecosystems and cetaceans)”.
Jorge Seguro Sanches also said, according to the newspaper, that it “acted in the pursuit of public interest, taking into account that three injunctions (one by the Algarve Intermunicipal Community and two by Odemira Council) were rejected by the courts”, and that over the last 10 years the concession has garnered investments of over 76 million euros”.
Drilling for oil off the southern Portuguese coast has been widely contested by environmental and heritage associations, by the Intermunicipal Community of Algarve, and by individual citizens or entities, having already led to the creation of collective movements against the activity in the region and to the presentation of several injunctions against contracts signed between the State and private consortia.
Italian oil company Eni holds a 70 percent stake in a partnership with Galp for oil exploration on the Alentejo coast, where it has three concessions, the aforementioned Lavagante, Santola and Gamba concessions, covering a total area of approximately 9,100 square kilometres.