The members of the Left Bloc in the Azores regional parliament have moved to have the sea area around the archipelago, transferred to the exclusive management of the region's government.At today's press conference in Ponta Delgada, Left Bloc parliamentary leader, Zuraida Soares, presented two preliminary bills that he intends to see debated at the Regional Assembly to prevent Lisbon's management of Azorean waters as part of the vastly expanded sea area the government is keen to gain.
"The amendments proposed are intended to place the management of the sea adjacent to the Azores in the exclusive hands of the region's own governing bodies and to require that the planning and management arrangements for the sea in the region be the responsibility of the Regional Government and of the Legislative Assembly of the Azores," said the MP.
Soares explained that these legislative changes are intended to prevent Lisbon handing out deep sea mining concessions to companies intent on exploring the sea bed for minerals.
"In the face of competition between maritime activities, rather than choosing, as the current law does, stronger economic activity - read, ‘profitable’ - we want to impose a balance between environmental issues, the local economy and future sustainability," said Zuraida Soares who, as an MP, is in a well-informed position regarding the Lisbon government’s intentions.
According to the islands’ Left Bloc, the proposed changes to the Political-Administrative Statute of the Region, "can be carried out without any constitutional revision" and can be catered for under the work being of the Temporary Commission for the Reform of Autonomy (CEVERA), created by the regional parliament.
"It is urgent to solve the issues related to our sea and its use, in order to avoid, at all costs, actions that are harmful to the interests of the region, to which the current Law of the Sea opens doors," warned the Left Bloc, adding that "it is time to put the Azores first."
For Zuraida Soares, there are political, environmental and land-use reasons that justify the proposed changes. These will be discussed and voted on in the Legislative Assembly of the Azores, and if they are approved, sent to the Assembly of the Republic for ‘further consideration,’ inevitably a rejection of this regional territory grab which would thwart the government’s desire to ‘monetise’ the sea bed with unproven technology at the expense of the natural world.
