- On 20 December the Basque Government approved the "provisional version" of the Sectoral Territorial Plan for Renewable Energy (PTS), following the tradition that projects that generate social conflict will be approved on the eve of the holiday. EH Activa has concentrated before the Basque Government on 23 December and its first words have been: "It is unacceptable that professional politicians who should have worked as representatives of the people, once again, have prioritised the interests of companies in an area as important as energy."
The Basque Government is working on the promotion of macrorenovables as an urgent response to the climate emergency: according to its logic, a great deal of electricity needs to be produced, while at the same time developing technology to electrify all fossil based machinery and thus reduce CO2 emissions. At a press conference, EH Bildu stated that the Basque Government used the climate emergency as an "excuse" and recalled that in Navarre the results of this route now proposed by the Basque Government are available: "In Navarre, in addition to the destruction of the territory that entails the expansion of the "renewables" of this dimension, the promises that have been made have not been fulfilled; today the citizens have no better conditions for access to electricity, the consumption of hydrocarbons in Navarre has increased and with it the emissions of CO2. To this must be added the problem of some wind power stations that are about to become obsolete, as it is not clear what the outlet will be for them. It is therefore clear that territorial planning in Navarre has been a long way from solving climate change and taking a step forward in social welfare."
In this sense, EH Bildu stresses that this plan is a missed opportunity: "This plan is an enormous waste of time and resources to deal fully with the ecological emergency we have. The recently approved Territorial Sectoral Plan, together with the greater ease of implementation of macroprojects by companies, entails the destruction of the territory and the loss of the quality of life of citizens".
"This "imposition" of macro-projects is a way of dealing with the economic crisis"
EH Bildu announced at a press conference that the renewable plan approved by the Basque Government is not intended to give way to the climate emergency, but to boost economic activity: "This plan is directly related to the economic crisis we are experiencing, and we must understand this imposition of macro-projects as an attempt to solve these economic difficulties," he added. In the view of the platform, this is the intention of the parties that have approved the plan: "to set the conditions for a rapid and massive deployment of "renewables" at the macro level."
Eh Bildu has denounced that it is "unacceptable" that the plan promoting the macrorenovables has been approved in a "clear opposition" social environment and has set as an example the massive demonstration that took place two months ago in Vitoria-Gasteiz.
In the opposite direction to the government's approach, EH Bildu believes that the way to seek a way out of the climate emergency is to question the model itself: "We believe it is essential to overcome the current capitalist economic model, because only in this way will we manage to find a way out of the current ecological and energy emergency," he added.
National demonstration on 22 March in Vitoria-Gasteiz
On March 22, EH Bildu called a national rally in Vitoria-Gasteiz to demand the "repeal" of the Sectoral Territorial Plan for Renewable Energy and "claim to overcome the current economic model".