Portugal’s Minister of Foreign Affairs said that he "could lodge a complaint" against Spain with the European Commission over its intention of building a nuclear waste dump over the border in Almaraz.
Augusto Santos Silva said that the two governments are "in permanent contact" and that "the typical principle of international law, and particularly between countries as close and friendly as Portugal and Spain, is that when there is a dispute, we identify the dispute and the conditions for resolving the dispute."
The Spanish Government decided last week to authorise that the construction of a nuclear waste dump at the ancient, 37-year-old, Almaraz nuclear power station just 100 kilometres from the Portuguese border on the Tejo river.
"From the Portuguese point of view, there is a community directive that has not been complied with and, if necessary, we will activate its procedure in Brussels," said Augusto Santos Silva whose lack of effort and torturous diplomacy has enabled the Spanish to do much as they please at this old nuclear facility, to the increasing concern of the neighbouring Portuguse as the facility is on the Tejo river which of course flows through Portugal.
The Portuguese Government considers that the environmental impact assessment for Spanish nuclear dump project is not correct because it "does not assess cross-border impacts" and therefore "violates EU legislation," but the Spanish are going ahead anyway.
Santos Silva said the two governments are "in permanent contact" and revealed that on Tuesday he received a phone call from his Spanish counterpart, Alfonso Dastis, to update him.
"We are at a time when we need to determine if the meeting that was scheduled between the two environment ministers for January 12th in Madrid still has some useful meaning," said the head of Portuguese diplomacy at the start of a series of statements that each employed his particularly brand of erudite vacuity.
Portugal’s Environment Minister, João Matos Fernandes, said this Monday that he refused to attend the meeting with his Spanish counterpart if Spain's decision on the construction of the dunmp is confirmed, which it has been, so there should be not meeting - despite such a meeting now being all the more essential.
"From our point of view, the meeting can only make sense if it is not based on the assumption that a decision has been made. If it is assumed that a decision is made, there is no meeting that has a meaning for a decision which should not be taken when that meeting would be taking place," Santos Silva added with sparkling clarity.
The nuclear power station has a rickety cooling system, something Spain denies, but then it would, wouldn’t it. Dodgy spare parts have been used during a patchy maintenance regime leading to environmental concerns and the probability of an accident which would affect Portugal’s part of the Tejo river far more than Spain’s.
The minister continues to postpone any complaint to Brussels. In November 2016, Sanches promised to do so "if the Portuguese government feels that there are transboundary impacts on this project."
Clearly, the Portuguese government is happy with being trampled on and humiliated by Spain, and accepts that a nuclear waste dump and a a poorly mainitained and fading nuclear power station upriver is nothing to worry about.
A protest is planned by environmentalists for January 12th in front of the Spanish embassy in Lisbon, to "show that environmental groups are interested in forcing dialogue with the Spanish Government and forcing the Spanish Government to decide to close the Almaraz plant." That's according to Portuguese environmentalist António Eloy of the Iberian Anti- Nuclear campaining organisation, adding
"The minister can not continue to be disparaging and to be a hero when he was totally conniving with this situation."
