A Brazilian court has overturned a judge's ruling that called on French President Emmanuel Macron to provide explanations about complaints about environmental damage near an EDF-controlled hydroelectric power plant in the Amazon.
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The Court of Justice of the State of Mato Grosso (center-west) decided that it was "
not necessary
" for Emmanuel Macron to come forward, "
insofar as his position as an authority n 'would have no influence on the judgment
,' explained Sinop Energia, a company in which EDF is the majority shareholder, in a press release sent Monday, May 23 to AFP.
"
Even if the (French) State is a shareholder of the company Sinop Energia, the latter (...) was incorporated under the Brazilian legal system
“, can we read in the sentence which annuls the judgment of the magistrate.
Three associations have filed a complaint, accusing EDF of negligence in the prevention of fires which have multiplied since 2018 in the area where its power plant is located, near Sinop, a town of 150,000 inhabitants considered to be a hub of agro-business.
In his judgment of May 4, Judge Mirko Vincenzo Giannotte had addressed many ironic remarks to the French president, “
environmental defender who constantly gives his opinion on the environmental policy of the Brazilian government
”.
According to the Brazilian press, this magistrate was for a time tipped to be appointed to the Supreme Court by far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, with whom Emmanuel Macron had heated exchanges about the Amazon in 2019, after the upsurge forest fires.
Sinop Energia assured in its press release that it had “
carried out numerous fire prevention actions
” around the plant site.