Panagiotis Lafazanis, the Minister of Productive Reconstruction and Energy has recalled ministerial validation of the architectural and engineering permits for facilities of the Skouries mine in Chalkidiki.
The permits are to be reassessed to determine whether the environmental impact and other studies the permits were based on were properly conducted according to the law.
“The reassessment was determined to be necessary after several bodies submitted written complaints. It has the goal of upholding the law as effectively and meaningfully as possible and first and foremost protecting the environment and the public interest,” the ministry explained in a statement.
The Skouries gold mine which is operated by the Candian company Eldorado Gold is a controversial development which has repeatedly been the focus of protests and demonstrations in recent years. Many local residents and environmental organizations are opposed to the mine which they say threatens the pristine environment with irreversible damage. The terms of sale of the goldmine from the state to private developers have also been denounced, with the European Court ruling that it amounted to illegal state aid as the mine was sold off at a price below market value in the absence of a transparent international tender.
The Skouries mine which is part of the Cassandra complex of mines is a difficult test case for the fledgling SYRIZA government. On the one hand figures in SYRIZA are loath to allow the sweetheart deal with the private investors to go unchecked, while others are concerned about the environmental impact. Yet on the other hand the mine employs hundreds of workers in an area of high unemployment where foreign investments are badly needed.
The SYRIZA government has pledged to reassess the operation of the Skouries mine while still protecting the rights of workers. Only last Wednesday the Alternate Minister for the Environment, Yiannis Tsironis, had said that extraction would not be disrupted as existing contracts cannot be cancelled. The state, he said, could only check the legality of the permits issued for the project. However the move by Lafazanis to recall the permits by the ministry was swiftly condemned by the local miners' union.
In explaining his decision, Lafazanis cited the fact that the technical survey of the Enrichment Unit of the mine as well as the architectural and engineering surveys were approved under legislation which was only adopted after the issuance of the permits.
Workers Protest
“The most ‘leftist’ minister, theoretically, of this government, instead of keeping his word to the workers, preferred to favour people of questionable morality and repute, whose opinions he cites in his decision today,” the local miners union wrote in a letter to the Prime Minister protesting the move to recall the permits.
In the letter the union maintains that Lafazanis had promised that, “before he takes any decision he would come here to Chalkidiki to be briefed and see up close the facilities where 2,000 residents of Northeastern Chalkidiki work.”
The unions called on the investors in the mine to continue to support the development writing, “if we become unpleasant to the government, they can send the riot police.”
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