PL welcomes government's environment policy

The Labour Party has welcomed the government's decision to draw up an environmental policy within the next 18 months.

Opposition environment spokesman Leo Brincat said it was a good sign that, even though the government had not expressed itself publicly on the matter, it was "appreciating and understanding the merits of Labour's suggestions" that environmental protection could not be kept integrated with planning.

Labour said "once and if" the document was drawn up, it should be considered as a counterpart of the strategic policy for the use of land in the area of spatial planning, which the party was proposing.

On Wednesday, Environment Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco said the new policy would signal a proactive stance to environmental standards, rather than just reaching standards imposed by the EU.

The country's environmental policies are scattered in various separate policies and issues such as air quality, biodiversity and land use; in the new policy, directives which are not in harmony with each other will be identified and addressed.