BNG alleges 'fraud' in selection of Doade mine as EU strategic project
MEP Ana Miranda (BNG) accuses the European Commission of fraud in the selection of the Doade mine as a strategic project. Twelve projects were previously rejected by experts.
BNG accuses European Commission of fraudulent selection of Doade mine
MEP Ana Miranda of the Galician nationalist party BNG filed a complaint on Tuesday of alleged fraud in the designation of the Doade mine (Ourense) as a strategic project by the European Commission. According to ABC, Miranda bases her allegations on a journalistic investigation by the German trade journal Table Briefings.
That investigation reveals that the Doade project and eleven other projects, which were granted strategic project status on 12 March 2025, had been rejected a month earlier — in February — by specialised technicians during their respective technical evaluations.
The investigation suggests that in the subsequent inclusion of these twelve projects, no account was taken of ESG standards (environment, social and governance). Additionally, it points to possible pressure from member states to increase the number of initiatives recognised as strategic.
Miranda and a Portuguese fellow MEP — Portugal faces a similar case with the Barroso mine — have asked the EU's Directorate-General for Industry and Internal Market for an emergency meeting for further information.
"We believe that the European Commission is covering up a process that was not transparent, but fraudulent, under pressure from the Partido Popular," Miranda said.
This is not an isolated complaint. The BNG has already filed five parliamentary questions through Miranda regarding the reliability of the Doade mine, directed at both the Spanish government and the European Commission. Both the government of Pedro Sánchez — questioned three times — and Brussels — questioned twice — confirmed that treating the project as a strategic initiative does not undermine compliance with environmental requirements.
This did not stop Miranda from continuing to characterise the mining sector as an "extractivist model that destroys the territory" and describing the activation of the project as an "environmental catastrophe".
Source: ABC