Move may breach directive - EU

The EU Commission believes the government's controversial decision to extend the development boundaries may be in breach of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (Sea) and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) directives.

A spokesman for Environment Commissioner Stravos Dimas said a case has been opened in connection with the matter and that the issue will now be taken up with the Maltese authorities. It is probable though, that this will only be tackled in the autumn due to the rather lengthy procedure involved. By then the proposed extended plans are expected to have been approved by Parliament.

The government holds there is no breach of directives. Only last Saturday it denied claims by Alternattiva Demokratika and several environmental NGOs that the rationalisation process falls under the Sea Directive.

Under this directive, the proposed extensions would require to be preceded by an environmental impact assessment.

Last Friday AD filed a judicial protest warning MPs that approval of the parliamentary resolution on the partial revision of the Structure Plan would be beyond the legal authority of Parliament. It argued that MPs would not be in a position to invoke parliamentary immunity if they are eventually sued for damages.

But the government is insisting on its stand. Asked about the Commission's comments, a spokesman for the Environment Ministry said the government has still not received any request for information on the matter from Brussels.

"When and if the Commission decides to ask the government for information, the government will be happy to forward all relevant information," the ministry spokesman said, adding that, based on the legal advice it had, the ministry believes the exercise does not warrant a strategic environment assessment.

The ministry said it had sought the "independent opinion" of the Sea audit team, set up in terms of the directive itself. The audit team is chaired by Chris Ciantar, the ministry's own policy director.

In a letter addressed to Mepa, Dr Ciantar points out that the rationalisation process is a continuation of the previous local plan process and, therefore, not subject to the Sea Directive.

The letter concludes that "in this particular case the process is at a stage when it is not feasible to carry out a strategic environmental assessment".

A European Commission spokesman, however, insisted with The Times that the rationalization proposal, if approved, is likely to be in breach of the directive, which requires that any significant environmental effects of certain projects, "or plans and programmes", are assessed and taken into account before a project/plan is adopted.

Earlier this month, the Commission had served the Maltese government with a warning letter saying that even though Maltese legislation provided for case-by-case decisions on the implementation of environmental impact assessments, the country was failing to ensure that the EIA Directive's criteria applied when certain development projects are considered.

According to EU law, EIAs are required to properly examine the environmental effects of a wide range of infrastructure and industrial projects.