Fireworks and the law

The communications coordinator of the Ministry for Competitiveness and Communications responded to my grave concerns by explaining why the government is trying to have the unstable and dangerous fireworks exempt from EU safety laws (April 8).

If anyone goes to a Maltese news website and searches for the word fireworks, hundreds of articles come up on fireworks explosions in which people have died or become handicapped for life and on explosions that have taken place at fireworks factories due the unstable chemical compounds.

The police often use a rope when asked by residents to measure the distances from public roads to the fireworks discharge locations. In this day and age we expect more professionalism. Is this how the Maltese fireworks law is applied? Did we join the EU just for votes?

Anybody can use the accurate Malta and Environment Authority map server from the Mepa website to measure distances between public roads and the fireworks discharge locations. What about when fireworks are discharged from public roads? What happens to the unexploded petards, hidden in the rubble walls and roadside grass once these public roads are reopened within a few hours of the fireworks discharge?

It is very obvious that the Maltese fireworks laws are not working! Again it is very sad to see the government putting votes before safety. I wonder what excuses and spin the government ministers will come up with when the next horrible fireworks accident is front page news?