The Supreme Administrative Court agreed with the Algarve Livre de Petróleo Platform (PALP), arguing that the "precautionary principle" for environmental damage should have been taken into account when the Central Administrative Court (TCA) of the South decided to revoke the injunction which it impeded the advance of the oil hole, off Aljezur.
Ao Sul Informação, Rosa Guedes, from PALP, explained that the Supreme, in practice, said that the "precautionary principle should have been taken into account and safeguarded by the Central Administrative Court of the South."
This decision by the TCA-Sul, it should be remembered, was made known in February of this year and annulled the PALP's injunction, filed in August 2018.
But later, in March of this year, the Public Ministry appealed this decision. of the Central Administrative Court of the South.
The process went to the Supreme which, now, did not accept the appeal, but for good reason in the opinion of environmentalists.
Because the hole, off Aljezur, "is not going to go any further". “As authorization and contracts no longer exist, there is no longer any danger. That is why the Supreme Court did not accept the appeal», explained Rosa Guedes.
The STA considered that the discussion of this judgment would no longer have practical effects, given the expiry of the legal title - TUPEM, which established the possibility of the private use of the national maritime space, to carry out the prospecting.
Therefore, he considered, "its intervention is unnecessary".
For PALP, the Supreme Administrative Court showed how “there are still laws and institutions in Portugal that allow for the protection of the environment”.
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