Portugal's Left Bloc has issued a statement that questions the Minister of the Sea and her reliance on a Galp Energia employee, now former employee, in the formulation of government policy regarding oil and gas exploration.
The statement reads: In January 2017, in Washington, the Minister of the Sea welcomed the US investment in oil exploration in our country. In Portugal, assured the minister, there are no movements, "against this type of exploitation because we are doing things silently."
While Minister, Ana Paula Vitorino, sold off the Portuguese coasts for deep drilling, a public consultation was held in Portugal for the award of a title for private use of the maritime space (TUPEM) to carry out a drilling and oil exploration off Aljezur by ENI and Galp.
The test well had 4 votes in favour and 42,295 against but, in January 2017, the Government decided in favour of the issuance of the TUPEM licence. The 'non-existent movements' of which the minister spoke requested an injunction.
The government contested the injunction and lost. The next day, the Ministry of the Sea appealed to Loulé court alongside Galp and ENI.
The years during which the Government was working alongside the oil companies against social movements, the population, and all the municipalities affected by these projects, the Minister of the Sea was being advised by Ruben Eiras, a manager at Galp Energia.
Eiras was a press officer for Manuel Pinho at the Ministry of Economy when, in 2006, he transferred to work at Galp Energia as a manager. During these he made several public communications in which he defended Galp's strategy of promoting the exploration and exploitation of natural gas and oil in Portugal.
In May 2016 the Ministry of the Sea appointed this 'Galp Energia worker' as an advisor. The public sites with his resume suggest that he worked for the minister at the same time as working for Galp but the ministry stated to a newspaper that Eiras stopped working for Galp in December 2015.
In either case, in February 2018, Ruben Eiras was appointed Director General of the Policy for the Sea on a substitute basis, where he has been ever since, despite the replacement posting ending this May.
In this case there are legal issues to be clarified, namely the potential conflict in interests and Eiras staying on after the fill-in post had ended.
One thing is certain, the policy of the Ministry of the Sea regarding the exploration and extraction of oil in Portugal is no different from that of Galp, and this is dangerous, incoherent and irresponsible.
It is dangerous because, once again, we are witnessing the domination of public policies by private interests. It is inconsistent because it contradicts the intention to combat climate change. It is irresponsible because the contracts are financially ruinous for the state.
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