The details of the agreement between the Uruguayan government and the Chilean capital company will finally be known HIF Global for the construction of a plant green hydrogen in Paysandú this Monday, after the court ruled in favor of the Green Animalist Party’s request.
The party claimed that the contract with HIF Global It was not published in the press or on the President’s website, and all the details were kept secret. In response to this, the association requested information, which was rejected by the Executive, which stressed that the agreement was confidential.
However, they did not accept the answer and asked the judge Pablo Gandini a report in which the State specifies the main points of the memorandum, “clearly indicating whether there is anything of an environmental nature that is of interest, such as, for example, the delivery of free trade zones.”
In this way, finally this Monday, after making the request for access on March 5 to the details of the agreement, the Executive power must provide the confidential information required by the contract signed on March 28 of this year, which involves one of the largest investments in the country.
What does the ruling in favor of the request for information say?
At the end of June, Judge Gandini ruled that the Executive power provide the requested information. In this way, “it condemns the Executive Branch to provide all the environmental information contained in the memorandum of understanding and its annex signed between the Eastern Republic of Uruguay and the HIF Uruguay Company on February 28, 2024,” the ruling states.
“In this specific case, dealing with a human right such as the environment and because environmental information is of public interest, the application of the exception to public information must be interpreted strictly, understanding that the confidentiality clause only covers the private data of the company, the economic data of the company such as the source of financing or credit for the project, etc. (data that the State should have classified), but in no way can it cover the environmental information contained in the memorandum and its annex,” the ruling adds.
More accusations of “secrecy”
A few months ago, the deputy for the Colorado Party (PC), Ope Pasquet, He questioned the fact that the content of the memorandum of understanding between the Executive Branch and HIF Global was not known. “I am not aware of the memorandum, nobody is aware of it, except for the members of the government,” the legislator told Radio Monte Carlo at the time.
In this regard, Pasquet recalled other agreements between private companies and the government. “It is good for the Uruguay that these possibilities exist, but we must avoid this giving rise to another contract negotiated in secret as has happened so many times in recent years such as the contract of Mountains of the Plata either UPM 2″, the politician questioned.
“I think it is not good for these important issues to be kept secret. Often these contracts impose obligations on the country that last for many years and it is not good for all this to be ignored by public opinion and Parliament,” he added.
After the Colorado Party presented a request for information, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining (MIEM), Walter Verri, He responded to the questions: “I think that unfortunately my friend and colleague Ope Pasquet forgets that the government has changed and that we are not the same as before. And I think we have proven that.”
“I understand it from a political point of view, it is nice to say these things. They often echo the proclamations of environmental movements,” he said. Verri, who clarified: “There is no business yet.”
The hierarch pointed out that the memorandum “it is not binding” and that is why “there is nothing hidden in this situation”, while he anticipated that the progress in negotiations would lead to a contract being signed only in 2025 or 2026.
Source: Ambito
