“In the case of Altri, as in other projects, the allocation of aid is always conditional on the final assessment of compliance with the conditions required by the European Commission (…). With the funds from the recovery plan, this cannot be financed nothing that harms environmental or social objectives“.
This was stated by the Minister of Economy, Trade and Business, Carlos’s bodyin an interview published this Monday in the 2024 yearbook of the Galician Economic Forum. A less energetic response to the one expressed this Sunday by the leader of the PSdeG, JDare Ramon Gomez Besteirowho expressed his rejection of the creation of the textile fibre factory, demanding “transparency”, and wondered whether the Government would provide the 250 million that Altri needs to finance the factory with European funds; a promise that the President of the Government had made, Pedro Sanchezto the President of the Xunta, Alphonse Ruedaat its first meeting in July 2022 after the inauguration of the Galician president.
The Xunta is expecting the next meeting between the two presidents, which will take place this Friday. clarify the position of the central government on this subject. “I hope that the government, which I suppose is trying to speak on its behalf -Besteiro-, will be much more responsible and give Galicia an opportunity,” Rueda said at the press conference after the Xunta Council held yesterday in San Caetano. The Galician president once again asked for “respect” from the technicians who are preparing the environmental impact reports of the Portuguese company’s project and guaranteed that “no project in Galicia will be carried out.” if it does not meet strict parameters“; but “if it works, we need industries and jobs,” he concluded.
Waiting for reports
Without knowing the technical environmental impact reports commissioned by the Xunta, the European Commission denied earlier this month that the Portuguese company’s project in Palas de Rei did not comply with the guidelines that regulate the assessment of polluting substances after a question registered by a BNG MP. Therefore, the Corps’ position would not be against the project if the requirements were finally met, contrary to the statements of the PSdeG leader, according to whom the project “there won’t be much output» based on the “decarbonization and innovation parameters” established by European regulations.
Some statements also distorted by the Minister of Economy and Industry, Maria Jesus Lorenzanaand which he described as “embarrassing” moments before attending the presentation of the Galician Economic Forum’s yearbook. “Now you have seen with the technical criteria that require that Galician projects are not financed, the last thing we could expect from the PSOE, going against our own projects,” said the minister, who described the PSdeG leader as “the Besteiro technician”, who complies “with the orders given to him by Moncloa and the BNG, on which he depends in the autonomous community.”
For her part, the leader of the BNG, Ana Pontón, welcomed the refusal of Besteiro and the achievement of the socialist shift regarding the implementation of the textile fiber factory, stressing that “rectifying is wise“.
