Before the last general election held in Italy, Silvio Berlusconi had already become a parody of himself and the epitome of political absurdity. It wasn’t just his appearance, which was ridiculous – repeated facelifts left the former prime minister looking as if his face was pulled behind his ears and his hair had that doll’s hair look which comes with transplants.
But the absurdity factor didn’t arise only from the fact that he looked like a creaky waxwork firing sexist comments about female politicians. It arose from the way he was so brazenly making all kinds of electoral promises to manoeuvre himself into power one more time. We used to smile in amusement when these eccentric types would contest the elections in Malta and pledge to build covered race tracks or to turn Comino into a nudist paradise – but they had nothing on Berlusconi.
His electoral pledges were not benign dreams but out and out attempts to buy his way back into power. So in the dying days of the campaign, he promised a double whopper – a fiscal amnesty and an amnesty on illegal construction. He basically pledged to reward criminality. This time, however, he didn’t manage to swing it. The Italian electorate had decided that it had had its fill of this gaffe-prone, over-the-hill permatanned man and he had to give up centre stage and catch up on his recreational activities.
Berlusconi’s last-minute amnesty pledges were transparent attempts to ‘buy’ votes – a ‘desperate times call for desperate measures’ ploy. In fact, Italy had had building amnesties aplenty over the last 30 years. It did not need another one. Every time, the politicians announce a new amnesty, they solemnly swore it will be absolutely the last one ever – only to introduce another one a few years down the line. This is always the case with such amnesties – they are always repeated in one guise or other. We’ve seen it happening here in Malta.
Trying to justify such an amnesty by saying that Mepa cannot reasonably hope to carry out the pending enforcement orders is admitting defeat and extending an open invitation to further abuse
We’ve had planning amnesties under the Nationalist administration, the total relaxation of planning restrictions, height limitations, building in ODZs under Labour. And now this – the amnesty to end all amnesties.
Mepa is cooking up a plan to sanction illegal constructions built before 2013. With a swipe of the legislator’s pen, that which was previously illegal will be rendered legal, people who have breached the law will be rewarded with a stratospheric increase in the value of their property, and law-abiders lose out. The move is reprehensible on so many levels and it confirms complete disregard and contempt for the law and the environment by whoever instigated it. That much is clear.
My question at this point is: Why? Why is the Labour government set to emulate Berlusconi’s desperate pre-election plea and giving the go-ahead to this horrific measure? If we had to cut through all the guff, we would see that such amnesties are given in two circumstances: As a blatant vote-buying exercise or/and in a desperate attempt to replenish party and/or State coffers.
Trying to justify such a blanket amnesty by saying that Mepa cannot reasonably hope to carry out the 10,000 or so pending enforcement orders, is admitting defeat and extending an open invitation to further abuse. Amnesties of the sort are also hugely unfair with those responsible for exactly the same type of breach being treated differently, depending on when they commit the breach.
If someone has contravened planning regulations now he will benefit from the possibility of sanctioning. Someone who does exactly the same thing outside the amnesty time window will be penalised (unless he holds out for the next one). Where’s the fairness or the consistency in that? Some people maintain that the funds collected in this manner will make good for Mepa’s shortfall. If paying to violate the law is the only way to do that, Mepa has really lost the plot.
If this type of mass amnesty comes about, it will be the last step in the erasure of all environmental and development regulation. The government will provide further confirmation – if any was needed – that our environment does not feature at all on its road map. If anything, it was the first on the ‘Dispensable’ list.
cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt