The prime minister announced on Tuesday that the government will approve this Thursday the first set of diplomas of the process for the decision of the new Lisbon airport, changing the powers in the municipalities over airports of national importance.
This calendar on the approval of the first diplomas in the Council of Ministers was sent by António Costa during the opening session of the VI Tourism Summit, at the Champalimaud Foundation, in Lisbon, in a speech in which he devoted about 30 minutes to the history of the polemics and systematic position changes in relation to the location at the new airport.
According to António Costa, the Council of Ministers will adopt this Thursday “a resolution determining the method of implementation and the deadline for the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), as well as the draft law that will allow Parliament to adequately exercise the powers of the municipalities on define the area of aerodrome licensing”.
“They will have binding powers for class 1, 2 and 3 airports, but not for category 4 airports. That is, as they are infrastructures of national importance, municipalities will be taken into account, but they can of course do not dictate that the land is for everyone,” he pointed out, after criticizing the veto, which he labeled as unconstitutional, that they had two city councils over the Montijo option.
In his speech, the executive branch believed that several conditions have been met that represent “a unique opportunity” to decide “properly” and in an “irreversible” way on the new airport, as the government has a mandate to 2026, the municipalities three more years until 2025 and the opposition leader [Luís Montenegro] two more years until 2024.
“During this meeting of pessimists and optimists, there was the happy coincidence that in the next two years we will have stability: we will have the same government with a majority in the Assembly of the Republic, the same opposition leader and the same mayors,” he stressed.
António Costa said he did not hope that the new solution for the new airport would prove to be consensus, even promoted with irony, that it would have only 20% support and 80% opposition.
“What the political decision-maker should try to ensure is that he decides with the best and most up-to-date information possible and for that to happen, it is necessary to conduct the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), through a process that everyone recognizes in total transparency and there is no doubt about it. Discreetly during these months it was possible to reach an agreement with the opposition leader,” he revealed.
Source: DN
