The debate, promoted by the Algarve Free Oil Platform (PALP), revolved around a question: “Oil exploration in the Algarve?”. And Clube Farense was too small to accommodate so many interested parties.
Nobody wanted to miss the opportunity to participate “in this expression of citizenship”. That is how all the representatives of the parties with parliamentary seats, some deputies, some not, present in the debate, called the initiative the PALP.
It was also from PALP that one of the great news of the night came: the platform, which has been one of the fiercest in the fight against hydrocarbon exploration, asserted itself against the contracts signed, regardless of which energy source they were: «really if they had been signed for other renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar or wave, we would not agree to these contracts”, said Rosa Guedes, calling them “extremely ruinous”.
If the night was hot on the street, at Clube Farense the scenario was no different: the debate was full, with applause, shouts, whistles, contradictions, but also consensus. In fact, there is a great consensus: the lack of information that still exists on the issue of hydrocarbons.
"There is a great deficiency: the lack of information about the entire process", said, for example, Paulo Sá, MP for the PCP, elected by the circle of Faro. «The contracts that are in force in the Algarve, whether at sea or on land, were signed contracts without the necessary public debate», he added. 
The issue of contracts turned out to be the central point of debate. For Cristóvão Norte and Patrícia Fonseca, deputies of the PSD and CDS, respectively, the contracts do not ensure the exploration of hydrocarbons, but only their prospection. "In the understanding of the CDS, the investment in renewable energies and in prospecting, knowledge and possible exploration of oil, are two compatible activities", even added Patrícia Fonseca.
The centrist deputy, who was one of the most contested for attending the debate, even defended that hydrocarbon exploration activities "are not incompatible with environmental quality". He even gave the example of Norway, to speak of the conciliation between oil exploration and environmental protection.
The PSD deputy, elected by the Algarve constituency, Cristóvão Norte, confessed to being against oil in the Algarve, but left some remarks, presenting an opinion, requested by the government, from the Attorney General's Office, on this issue. “The Prosecutor's Office was very clear: there has to be a political decision by the State to allow exploitation. The contracts are only for prospecting and research, they do not ensure exploration», he said, with the opinion in his hands.
A different opinion had Joaquim Correia, representing the “Os Verdes” party, who recalled what the deputy of the Left Bloc, Pedro Soares, also present at the debate, or even Elsa Cunha (PAN), had already said: the commitment that Portugal signed at COP21 for the reduction of greenhouse gases. "The fact that Portugal is a signatory to COP21 is totally contrary to what is defined in these contracts," he said. And he added: “The contracts provide for research, development and production. This is written».
The debate promoted by PALP took place a day after the decision of the GALP/ENI consortium to postpone oil exploration in Costa Vicentina was known. This fact did not pass by the interveners.
Despite Cristóvão Norte's criticisms of the difference in opinion between the statements by the Secretary of State for Energy and the Ministers of the Sea and the Environment, deputy Luís Graça, from the PS, came out in defense of the government.
“The government has taken a responsible position. We don't bow our heads; we don't want this and we say it. This decision [by GALP/ENI] is not strange, because the pressure has been great», he concluded.
Watch the video of the debate here:
http://livestream.com/accounts/20780755/events/6013244
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