Brussels is ‘closely’ monitoring investigations into lithium and hydrogen deals without having any information

This Thursday, the European Commission advised Lusa to “closely monitor” investigations into lithium and hydrogen deals in Portugal in which European funds are allegedly involved, ensuring that it does not have any further information and referring the matter to national authorities.

“We are, of course, closely monitoring the situation. Investigations are being carried out at the national level by the competent authorities,” an official source of the European Commission points out in response to the Lusa agency.

“The commission does not have any further information,” the same source said when asked about investigations carried out in Portugal on Tuesday involving lithium and hydrogen companies allegedly benefiting from European funds, which led to at least 42 searches and the arrests of five people . .

In July this year, the European Commission selected two projects in the port of Sines out of 41 large-scale clean technology projects that will receive a total of $3.6 billion in funding through the European Innovation Fund (EU). .

The selection included grant preparation.

According to information released by the European Commission at the time, the 41 projects, selected from 239 applications, must be operational before 2030 to avoid 221 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in the first 10 years of operation.

At stake was H2Sines, mentioned in the Portuguese press as one of those being investigated in Operation Influencer, a maritime supply chain for renewable liquid hydrogen between this port and Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Selected in the decarbonization category, the project involved the construction of an electrolyser, a large-scale carbon liquefaction plant and export capacity, as well as the storage of liquid hydrogen at the port of Sines (via a fuel cell vessel) for transport to the port of Sines. Rotterdam, according to information posted on the community executive’s website.

Another project selected to receive EU Innovation Fund funds, but in the industrial electrification and hydrogen category, was GREENH2ATLANTIC, which aimed to develop a green hydrogen production system using pressurized alkaline technology.

According to Brussels, the electricity needed to produce hydrogen is expected to be supplied by additional solar power and additional wind capacity through the electricity grid.

As green hydrogen, along with lithium, is one of the EU’s bets, the community leader is currently preparing a new Critical Raw Materials Act, which aims to ensure secure and sustainable supply, as well as the competitiveness of the European industrial sector.

However, as in Portugal, this bet is being challenged by European citizens’ movements, including WeMove Europe, which launched an online petition “Stop selling people and nature for mining” that already has more than 38,000 signatures.

The petition, also promoted by the Portuguese No Mines movement, argues that the new European law on critical raw materials “violates fundamental human and environmental rights and focuses on large-scale mineral exploitation rather than decisions based on the health of all living beings.” .

“We demand that the European Parliament and industry ministers reject the law,” the appeal says.

Prime Minister António Costa asked the President of the Republic to resign on Tuesday, and he accepted the offer.

Antonio Costa became the target of a Justice Department investigation in the Supreme Court after suspects in a lithium and hydrogen business case named him because he intervened to unblock procedures in the projects under investigation.

The department’s operation on Tuesday was based on at least 42 searches and resulted in the arrest of five people. The accused were Infrastructure Minister João Galamba and the President of the Portuguese Environmental Protection Agency, Nuno Lacasta.