Mogadouro, Bragança, Portugal, June 29, 2026 (Lusa) - The Terra de Miranda Movement on Monday called on Portugal's president, the ombudsman and parliament to push for the repeal of two laws which it considers to be abusive because they “hand over land to energy interests”.
In a statement sent to the Lusa news agency, the Terra de Miranda Cultural Movement (MCTM) states that the first law, dating from 2022, allows the installation of wind farms and solar power stations to be authorised in just 10 days, even when environmental, historical, cultural and landscape values are at stake.
“All that is required is for public authorities not to respond within this unrealistic timeframe,” the civic movement emphasised.
Furthermore, the MCTM adds that the second law, dating from 2024, extended this regime until the end of 2026.
“These laws, which constitute a privilege granted by the State to a business lobby, are unacceptable in a state governed by the rule of law; they undermine the public interest, democratic common sense and the Constitution itself,” the MCTM emphasised.
At issue is Article 3 of Decree-Law No. 30-A/2022 of 18 April and Decree-Law No. 116/2024 of 30 December.
The movement considers it “unacceptable that land where owners are subject to severe restrictions imposed by the State can now be occupied by energy projects capable of destroying the ecological balance, the landscape and agriculture in the Terra de Miranda region”.
This position by the MCTM follows the presentation by Engie on 7 May in the border village of São Martinho de Angueira regarding the hybridisation of the Picote hydroelectric power station and a wind farm, which the movement criticises.
This wind farm is expected to have a capacity of approximately 157.5 megawatts, with 105 hectares of unfenced area earmarked for the wind turbines, cable trenches and access roads.
Another of the projects in question involves the integration of photovoltaic systems into three power stations in Trás-os-Montes, with a capacity of around 354 megawatts-peak (MWp).
“There can be no good faith in this process. There is no good faith when negotiating with landowners without providing them with information on the projects’ impacts. There is no good faith on the part of the State, which has passed laws to favour economic interests, nor on the part of the local authorities which, through their silence or omission, have left the public unprotected. The deception is compounded when these companies misuse the facilities of the parish councils to present private business ventures, thereby misleading citizens”, it argues.
For the movement, parish councils exist to defend residents, not to legitimise corporate operations.
Stating that they are not against the energy transition, the movement emphasises that it is “against a transition hijacked by major economic interests, imposed on people through administrative silence, with private profits and public costs”.
“Clean energy cannot justify dirty deals or the trampling of local democracy, transparency and the dignity of the people. We are against the flagrant inequality between the state’s complicity with energy companies and the contempt it shows for the local residents it is supposed to represent. The land of Miranda is neither empty nor expendable. It is land that is inhabited, worked, inherited and defended by those who live there,” the civic movement emphasised.
FYP/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
