The Intermunicipal Community of the Algarve (AMAL), made up of 16 municipalities, of various political colors, unanimously decided this Tuesday, March 15, to go to court to halt the prospecting and exploration of oil and natural gas in the Algarve region .
AMAL, in a statement, announces that, "after exhausting the dialogue" with the Government, it will "proceed to the legal framework and referral to the judicial sphere of the entire process", as well as taking "all the necessary actions to prevent development » the exploration of hydrocarbons.
Socialist Jorge Botelho, president of AMAL and the Chamber of Tavira, explained to Sul Informação that what the 16 municipalities unanimously decided was "to start by hiring a jurist, so that, in a first phase, he finds ways to promote the reversal of contracts, which are the basis for filing a precautionary measure that prevents these proposals from moving forward On the ground".
The mayor recalled that, on January 26th, there was a meeting on this matter with the Secretary of State for Energy Jorge Seguro Sanches.
On that occasion, the “injunction rejection by AMAL on this matter, created by the previous Government and which is wrongly and apparently being pursued by the current one”, was made known.
From the meeting, "was the promise of analyzing the contracts recently established, in the sense of their legal compliance and hypothesis of reversal".
However, after 30 days, the «Government continues without officially transmitting to AMAL any decision or indication in this regard», the mayors not knowing that there has been any «intervention» in the ongoing process, «allowing the advance of oil prospecting and natural gas in the Algarve and later its possible exploitation, a regrettable fact that is strongly disapproved of by the Algarve's mayors».
«The message we sent to the Secretary of State for Energy was clear: the beginning of this process will be a serious blow to the future of the Algarve Region, to its economy, to the environmental and social well-being and to the sustainable development that you have been advocated! Therefore, the mayors demand the immediate stop of this process in favor of a better future for the citizens!”, also stressed Jorge Botelho.
Therefore, and because there is no concrete response from the Government, AMAL states in its statement that it will use "all legal forms that assist it to counteract the ongoing processes, with the aim of reversing them, taking into account the serious consequences that can result, jeopardizing the quality of life of populations and the economy, especially in tourism».
Comments