Portugal's Minister of the Environment, Jorge Moreira da Silva, finished his Algarve tour on Friday at a meeting in Faro that was meant to be a discussion about the Ria Formosa demolition programme being carried out by the Polis company but currently on hold.
The highly controversial demolitions already have set affected islanders on a collision course with the government but a previous meeting with the Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho gave organisers a degree of hope that his Minister of the Environment would listen to their genuine and well reasoned opposition to their eviction, the removal of their homes and subsequent ending of their unique way of life.
Jorge Moreira da Silva said that, should the Loulé court decision (due as soon as next week) go in favour of the government, the demolition programme ‘must go on’ no matter how many islanders or local mayors are against his plan to demolish 800 homes.
Loulé court recently upheld 137 legal claims to halt demolition of properties and now must decide whether or not the government programme being carried out by Polis is ‘in the public interest.’
The mayors representing a total council shareholding in Polis of 37% now and at last are united against the continuation of the destruction of property.
Olhão mayor António Pina left the Friday meeting in anger and disgust saying that the minister had not come to discuss anything, he had come only to state what the minister and Polis had agreed would happen.
"The minister did not come to negotiate or to talk," said Pina whose April 25th attendance at a demonstration in Farol saw him lauded as a political hero by a crowd of islanders, delighted at last to have a political champion and tired of Faro mayor Rogério Bacalhau’s vacillation.
Local MP Miguel Freitas submitted a rational proposal to the Minister that the demolitions should be suspended until after the forthcoming autumn elections so that the next government could decide on what to do. This was rejected by the Minister.
Due to the number of ‘Je Suis Ilhéu’ islanders gathered in protest outside the meeting, police reinforcements were called but thankfully were not needed.
The islanders’ history and current legal position was explained to the minister who simply was not interested in engaging with the subject, his mind was made up and that was that.
Even a united front from the mayors of those council areas covering the Ria Formosa failed to make any impact at all when demanding a halt to further demolitions.
The minister then went one stage further and said that as the houses that are not marked for demolition would enjoy an 'unfair advantage' over those that have been destroyed, his plan is also to knock down those houses remaining at Culatra’s Farol and Hangares settlements.
In addition to the 800 properties slated for demolition a futher number, in the hundreds, also are to be destroyed if the minister is allowed to continue in this autocratic manner.
The islanders’ say that Silva has wasted the last chance to put an end to this demolition process and they are convinced that powerful commercial interests lie behind the minister’s behaviour, categorising Jorge Moreira da Silva and the head of Polis, Sebastião Teixeira, as ‘public enemies of the people of the Ria Formosa,’ and not without reason.
The meeting, besides the presence of the Minister of Environment Jorge Moreira da Silva, included the Secretary of State for the Environment Paul Lemos – famous for signing the development permission for the Salgados resort in Silves in an area of natural importance, Sebastião Braz Teixeira, President of Polis Litoral Ria Formosa, representatives of neighborhood associations, the Mayor of Olhão, António Pina, the mayor of Faro, Rogério Bacalhau, the deputy of the PSD Algarve, Christopher North, MP Miguel Freitas, the other presidents of the councils belonging to Polis Ria Formosa and even union chief Daniel Santana among other of the Algarve’s community.
Much depends on the Loulé court decision next week. Should the injunctions be upheld and demolitions declared against the public interest, the government no doubt will appeal and the fight goes on.
If the injunctions are released and Polis again is allowed to carry out its mission to evict islanders and destroy their homes, there may still be legal ways to stop the bulldozers as the islanders are nothing if not resourceful, as had been shown by their behaviour and deep commitment throughout this campaign for the basic right to stay where they are, continue to pay council taxes, water rates and electricity bills and make what money they can from the maritime environment into which they were born.
The behaviour of the minister and his refusal to engage in useful debate leads many to believe that the government’s end game is indeed to remove all of the properties on the islands to make way for luxury tourist developments, or why would the government already be applying for the Natural Park of the Ria Formosa to receive the European Certification of Sustainable Tourism in a Protected Area?"
One of the key hurdles in obtaining this certification is ‘To ensure that tourism supports and does not reduce the quality of life of local residents, by involving local communities in the planning of tourism in the area.’ This criteria certainly will not be met if the minister gets his way.
There now is a tense wait until Loulé court decides what is, and what is not, in the public interest. Several thousand homeless islanders might well stretch maninland social resources beyond breaking point.
