On Thursday, March 11, the voting procedure was completed - exclusively with the vote of the ruling party's MPs - of the bill amending the Greek public sector's contract with the company «Greek Gold». A convention, which will be a historical milestone for the current government's effort to promote a model of development that symbolizes its conflict with European legality, the constitutional order and any sense of environmental responsibility towards future generations.
The issue of the exploitation of mineral wealth is currently a contentious issue in many European countries, with the result that restrictions on the expansion of such activities are increasingly imposed. However, in the Greek constitutional and legal order, the relevant issues are strictly delimited. The institutional framework of our country, as it stems from the constitutionally enshrined obligation of the state to settle the issue of mineral wealth (Article 106), is governed by the obligation to exploit the subsoil exclusively for the benefit of «...public interest for the promotion of the national and regional economy of the country...».
The previous government's dispute with El Dorado Gold was centred on the Constitution and the laws of our country. The Constitution, which requires the state to maximize the economic benefits of an activity that - no matter how many protective measures are taken - irreparably injures the environment, so the Constitutional legislature requires maximizing the benefits in order to tolerate the ’sacrifice.«.
The company in question had signed a contract under which it was obliged to use an internationally recognised method of processing gold concentrates to produce pure metal, respecting the environmental legislation of our country.
For 17 years, the company has pursued a dilatory policy, refusing to implement the investments provided for in the contract. It then began to propose treatment methods that had never been applied anywhere in the world without causing unacceptable environmental damage for a European country.
The outcome of the arbitration chosen by the previous government determined that the State must license, on the basis of the country's existing environmental legislation, any investments that would lead to vertical production and, on the other hand, confirmed the company's obligation to establish industrial facilities, the end product of which would be pure gold, silver and copper. The arbitral tribunal, in a decision binding on both parties, did not relieve the company of its responsibilities. Neither did the CoE, which in its decision (12/2/2020) confirmed the position of the previous government, namely that it was the responsibility of the company to prove in situ, from the specific ores of Halkidiki, that there was a safe way to implement its investment plan, on the basis of its proposals for instant smelting.
The amendment to the contract passed by the present government, however, relieved the company of responsibility for its systematic violation of the previous contract. The Southwest came and rewarded the predatory practice of «Hellenic Gold» and allowed her to extract concentrates indefinitely. In the now passed contract, the company's obligation to build a plant for the final production of gold alone is conditional on the company itself, without any commitment or deadline. In this legal «monstrosity», the state has to compensate the company even if it chooses to terminate its activities in the country!
At the same time, the Greek state is prohibited from changing the legislation governing any of the terms of the operation of the contract. If, for example, the EU changes the directive concerning environmental licensing or environmental control, such a change is prohibited from affecting the investment in question. Similarly, the company can claim compensation from the state if its employees exercise their constitutional right to strike, while the Greek state is forbidden to send environmental inspectors to audit the activities of Ellinikos Chrysos! Above all, however, the government, with this contract, forbids in a highly undemocratic way any other Greek government in the future to change its policy, thus essentially binding the same popular will.
In conclusion, the amendment to the Convention creates the first Special Economic Zone in the country and the first Special Economic Zone in a country in the hard core of the European Union. For this blunder, the government will not only find the SYRIZA across from her. But also the Constitution itself, the European institutions and the Greek people.
*Harris Mamoulakis is Deputy Minister of Development, MP of SYRIZA-PS Heraklion - Civil Engineer BEng MSc
