Catarina Martins, the strident leader of the Left Bloc, has called for environmental impact assessments to be mandatory before oil and gas exploration concessions are granted.
Speaking in Évora, Martins is to present a draft law to this effect and called on all parties to “do the decent thing” with oil concessions, reflecting the public mood that the current licensing process is unaccountable, secretive and gives too much power to the Minister of the Environment whose motives may be suspect but are unable to be influenced or challenged by the electorate.
The Left Bloc challenge is aimed at environmental protection and also aims to restore the damage caused by the previous government whose blind obedience to the dictates of the Troika has opened Portugal’s possible oil and gas reserves to abuse by the concession holders.
Martins said, that concessions for the exploration for fossil fuels have been signed away to private companies without environmental impact studies and moreover have been granted at bargain basement prices.
The Left Bloc leader stressed that her party had opposed the concessions from the start and that the contracts were "doubly harmful" regarding the environment aspects as they do not meet the environmental requirements of the 21st century and they leave the environmental burden with the public while the profits go to the private sector.
The theme of the Left Bloc series of talks includes environmental protection and combating inequalities.
A country that "takes inequality seriously," needs direction to protect labour and the environmental.
“The Left Block wants to discuss proposals and projects that help combat the problems of our country and not to be forever waiting for Europe," added Martins, adding that "there is now a consensus in Portugal - that the country can not be waiting for Europe to solve its problems.”
As for agriculture, Martins said that the Alentejo is two-thirds of Portugal’s territory “but those working in agriculture can not live in a dignified manner.”
She presented two commitments relating to two bills currently awaiting parliamentary time: one aimed at combating forced labour and other forms of exploitation in agriculture and the second to ensure that canteens run by the State use local produce so as to boost and encourage local production.
As for the oil and gas concessions, Paulo Carmona as head of the country’s Fuels Authority soon is to be heard by a parliamentary committee concerned about the circumstances surrounding the granting of contracts that cover the Algarve that were granted to Portfuel in suspicious circumstances.
