No EU plans for legal action over zones

The European Commission has no current plans to take legal action against Malta over the extension of development zones approved by Parliament recently, a spokesman for the Commission said yesterday.

The only move being contemplated by Brussels at this stage is to raise the issue during "normal" ongoing discussions on environmental topics between the Commission and representatives of the Maltese government. A date for the next meeting has not been set yet.

The claim made recently by Alternattiva Demokratika that the controversial extension of the development boundaries breaches the EU's Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive was yesterday played down by the Commission.

Speaking to The Times, a Commission spokesman said that the Commission has not taken any decision on starting any infringement procedure against Malta on this issue and currently there are no such plans.

The spokesman explained that when a complaint that EU laws are being breached is raised, such as the one by Alternattiva, the Commission is duty-bound to follow it up and investigate.

However, this does not necessarily mean that this will be followed by infringement procedures.

Asked to state whether the Commission is "likely to come to a decision shortly" on the issue, as claimed by Alternattiva chairman Harry Vassallo a few weeks ago, the Commission spokesman denied the claim. "The Commission is assessing the information available with a view to raising the matter with the Maltese authorities in due course. We have not said anything about opening an infringement procedure shortly, so I don't know where this comes from."

In its five-page report sent to Brussels, Alternattiva Demokratika argued that the extension of development boundaries breaches the SEA directive which stipulates that plans or projects which could have substantial environmental effects should be subject to an impact assessment.

However, the government refutes this claim saying that it has legal advice stating that the procedures adopted by Mepa are regular. The government has also said that it has not received any request for information from Brussels over the issue.