The wave of suspensions of wind projects in Galicia by the Superior Court of Xustiza (TSXG) keeps the sector, as well as the Galician government, concerned about the viability on which they initially counted and which they are now trying to recover. But to do so, they must respond to the arguments put forward by the Galician justice; some of them, related to the correction imposed on the processes related to their processing and the corresponding deadlines. In this regard, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Angeles Vázquez will travel to Brussels this week to demand “clear criteria” from the European Court of Justice which govern these procedures and contribute to restoring legal security to more than fifty paralyzed projects.
Vázquez will address, with different representatives of the community, the situation of the Galician wind sector and, specifically, as Ep learned from the Ministry of the Environment itself, he will meet with the Director General of the Legal Service of the European Commission, Daniel Calleja. With this, he will analyze the arguments that the High Court of Xustiza de Galicia (TSXG) submitted before the High Court of Justice of the European Union (TSJUE) as a basis for the cancellation of the parks, indicating that, first, the reports should have been requested by sector and then publish them to allow consultation with citizens. They will do so after the Supreme Court supports the decision of the Xunta de simultaneously manage public information procedures when processing wind projects, in accordance with the State Basic Law on Environmental Assessment.
The minister will stress the “urgency” for the European Court to establish “clear criteria” for the treatment and granting “legal certainty” to a “key” sector in environmental protection and with the aim of achieving climate neutrality “as soon as possible”. To this end, he will transmit to the rest of the authorities the commitment of the Galician government to “continue to guarantee an orderly wind model, developed with maximum transparency and participation” and which, in addition, is supported by a “rigorous” environmental treatment.
Towards decarbonization
This will not be the only meeting that the head of the Environment portfolio will hold during her visit to the Belgian capital. She also has a meeting scheduled with the Director of Biodiversity of the Directorate-General for the Environment of the European Commission, Humberto Delgado, to ratify Xunta’s commitment to the development of renewable energy projects that mark progress in decarbonization. Precisely, a week ago, the Galician government announced the declaration of the future green hydrogen plant of Arteixo (La Coruña) as a Strategic Industrial Project (PIE), figure that reduces the time to accelerate its implementation.
Vázquez will present to the community representatives the Galician autonomous initiative that represents the simplified law on environmental administration. The Xunta is preparing it, precisely, to “contribute to the transition to a new, more sustainable and efficient productive model” capable, in turn, of strengthening the legal security of projects to guarantee “the essential balance” between their development and their protection. of the natural environment. And, with an eye to Europe and the future, it will seek to “unify and update” the regulations that govern the continental framework for decarbonization in the wind sector.
