The European Commission told Lusa this Thursday “monitor closely” Investigations into the lithium and hydrogen business.in Portugal, which supposedly involve European funds, guaranteeing that there is no more information and referring the case to the authorities national.
“Of course, we are closely monitoring the situation. The investigations are carried out by the competent authorities at national level,” indicates an official source from the European Commission in response to the Lusa agency.
“The Commission has no further information”says the same source, when asked about research carried out in Portugal on Tuesday involving lithium and hydrogen business, presumably, beneficiaries of European fundswhich led to at least 42 searches and arrest of five people.
In July of this year, the European Commission chose two projects in the port of Sines, out of a total of 41 large-scale projects in the field of clean technologies, to receive a total of 3.6 billion in financing through the Innovation Fund of the European Union (EU). .
The election included the preparation of grants. According to the information published at the time by the European Commission, the 41 projects selected from 239 applications should be operational before 2030, in order to avoid 221 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions in its first 10 years of operation.
At stake was H2Sines, mentioned in the Portuguese press as one of those investigated in Operation Influencer, a maritime supply chain of renewable liquid hydrogen between this port and Rotterdam, in the Netherlands.
Chosen in the decarbonization category, This project provided for the construction of an electrolyzer, of a large-scale liquefaction unit and export facilities, as well as the Storage of liquid hydrogen in the port of Sines (via fuel cell boat) to be transferred to Rotterdamaccording to the information available on the community executive’s website.
Another project chosen to receive funds from the EU Innovation Fund, but already in the category of industry electrification and hydrogen, was GREENH2ATLANTIC, which aimed to develop a ‘green’ hydrogen production system using pressurized alkaline technology.
According to Brussels, it was expected that the electricity needed for hydrogen production would be supplied with additional solar energy and additional wind capacity, through the electrical grid.
With ‘green’ hydrogen being one of the bets in the EU, along with lithium, the community executive is currently preparing a new Critical Raw Materials Law, which aims to guarantee a safe and sustainable supply, as well as the competitiveness of the European industrial sector.
However, as in Portugal, European civic movements question this bet, including the organization WeMove Europe, which launched the online petition “Stop selling people and nature to mining”, which already has more than 38 thousand signatures.
The petition, also promoted by the Portuguese “No to Mines” movement, argues that the new European law on critical raw materials “violates fundamental human and environmental rights and focuses on large-scale mining exploitation instead of solutions based on the health of all living beings”.
“We demand that the European Parliament and Industry Ministers reject the law”he appeals.
The Prime Minister, António Costa, asked on Tuesday for the resignation of the President of the Republic, who accepted it.
António Costa is the subject of an investigation by the Public Ministry in the Supreme Court of Justiceafter suspects in a case involving lithium and hydrogen businesses invoked his name as if he had intervened to unblock procedures in the investigated projects.
Tuesday’s operation by the Public Ministry was based on at least 42 searches and led to the arrest of five peopleThe Minister of Infrastructure, João Galamba, and the president of the Portuguese Environment Agency, Nuno Lacasta, are accused.
Source: TSF
