Wind energy yes, but not camel drivers

Let's see if I am making myself clear. I am deeply pro-European and it is clear that the European Union must redirect its crazy energy policy that has made us suicidally dependent on Russian gas supply, among other things. Galicia has an undoubted comparative advantage for the production of wind energy because it has many average heights where there is wind, in addition to the possibility of producing this energy in the sea. That is to say, wind energy in Galicia can be produced both in its mountains and in its sea, because I will remind you that the platforms must be anchored on the seabed of the continental shelf which, unlike the Exclusive Economic Zone, is under Spanish sovereignty according to the International Convention on the Law of the Sea. Therefore, the autonomous communities have a lot to say in this regard.

Furthermore, all measures must be subject to proportionality, that is to say, to the principle of proportionality which, for example, the European Commission does not respect in the case of trawling. For example, I like melon, but I do not like to be forced to eat forty kilos in one sitting, that is to say, a disproportionate measure can turn something good into something really bad.

That said, it is clear that Galicia has a comparative advantage in wind energy production as well as in hydroelectric, and it is in the interest of the European Union and the public interest in general that this advantage is exploited. However, not at any price and much less to the detriment of Galicia's own interests, which must clearly benefit from such exploitation. That is to say that the benefits generated must revert in a reasonable and specific way to the inhabitants of the autonomous community because otherwise it would be a kind of colonialism that I do not like at all.

"Galicia puts the territory or its waters and therefore must participate clearly in the benefits that such investment brings".



Let's imagine for a moment that a large company of those who put their headquarters where it suits them best without giving credible explanations of why they do it, settles in Saudi Arabia to exploit the oil, but tells the Arabs that they do without them and that it is better for the economy that instead of participating in the profits, they dedicate themselves to the undoubtedly honorable profession of raising camels or camel drivers. The comb the Arabs would rightly give him would be of enormous proportions.

Well, in the case of wind power in Galicia, whether onshore or offshore, exactly the same thing happens. Galicia puts the territory or its waters and therefore must participate clearly in the benefits that such investment brings. Let's remember that offshore wind farms, on the other hand, will occupy areas of the shelf that will prevent fishing activity, especially trawling. In other words, benefits must be distributed in an equitable and clear manner, in addition to compensating those who are harmed.

In short, wind power in Galicia, yes, of course, but on the basis that what is exploited is a natural resource of Galicia, that is, of all Galicians, and therefore the benefits can in no way revert only to the companies that invest in this activity. And let's be clear, if a company intends to invest in a privately owned land, the logical thing to do is to share the profits fifty-fifty with the owner of the land. In other words, the fifty-fifty, as the Anglo-Saxons would say, and we must not go below that point because it must be clear that we Galicians do not wish to become camel drivers.