The government faced a storm of criticism from environment NGOs and the Opposition this afternoon when the Parliamentary Environment Committee convened to discuss three Bills on the demerger of Mepa. The demerger will see the hiving off the Environment Directorate which will become the Resources Authority.
The Bills were published on Friday and debate about them will start in Parliament tomorrow morning.
Speaker after speaker said their associations could not speak in any detail about the Bills because they had not been given time to prepare – they were only invited to the meeting late yesterday.
Environment Minister Leo Brincat said the public consultation would continue for four weeks even as the debate on the Bills started in Parliament tomorrow morning.
He explained that the committee stage of the debate, when changes could be made to the text, would come after the summer recess and there was plenty of time to consider suggestions.
Shadow Minister Marthese Portelli and other Nationalist MPs insisted that the parliamentary debate on the Bills should be postponed until after the public consultation was over.
Petra Caruana Dingli, representing Din l-Art Helwa said the NGO was invited to today’s committee meeting by e-mail to its office at 8.50pm yesterday. No one was at the office and the e-mail was seen this morning.
That meant that Din l-Art Helwa could not comment on the Bills at issue.
She insisted, however, that in terms of the Aarus Convention, civil society had to be granted sufficient time for effective participation ahead of such legislation.
Malta’s own Environment and Planning Act said that regulations may not be made before a draft was published and the public was allowed at least four weeks to react. If this applied for regulations, it stood to reason that sufficient time should be allowed for proper consultation on legislation as a whole.
Arnold Cassola, on behalf of Alternattiva Demokratika said that it spoke volumes about parliament’s autonomy that this committee’s meeting was only being held after a government decision. He too regretted the short notice.
AD AGAINST MEPA FRAGMENTATION
On the proposed Bills, he said AD wished to make three points: The party was against the fragmentation of Mepa as this would weaken the environment and make developers stronger. Secondly, AD felt Mepa should be granted more human resources and there should be an end to political interference. There should be an end to the appointment to government poodles
Thirdly, rather than MPs on the Mepa board, there should be a Parliamentary committee to oversee Mepa’s operations.
Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon said the meeting was being held after a request by the government on the basis of an earlier request by the NGOs, and not as a result of a government decision.
Carmel Caccopardo (AD) said the whole issue was whether there would be effective controls over the building industry. Should regulators be appointed by the government, or should regulators be nominated by the government and then appointed after scrutiny by Parliament? He felt Malta should more to the latter.
Mr Brincat, reacting to earlier comments, said the period of public consultation was being extended to four weeks.
Ryan Callus (PN) said that further reinforced the Opposition's view that the debate in the Chamber of the House should be put off until public consultation was over.
Alfred Baldacchino, speaking in his personal capacity, highlighted various discrepancies in the text of the Bill on the Environment Resources and an absence of many definitions.
He insisted that the technical decisions of the Director of the Environment should not be usurped by an Authority formed of people appointed by politicians.
David Pisani and Monique Agius from Front Harsien ODZ said it was offensive that so little time had been given for the NGOs to prepare. They insisted the consultation period should be extended
Elena Portelli (Friends of the Earth) raised the same point and the committee chairman then informed the committee that the Ramblers Association had written to say it had stayed away because of the short notice.
Sandro Chetcuti (Developers' Association) said the Opposition too had not invited his association for consultation.
Labour MP Charles Buhagiar said one should not confuse construction and planning and the distinction should be clear, also in legislation.
Several other participants spoke in their personal capacity, including Simone Vella Leniker who suggested information sessions for the public to know what the changes involved.
Astrid Vella (FAA) said that a cardinal point was about the appointment of officials for the Environmental Authority. It appeared that they would all be ‘with the approval of the minister’.
This was the root cause of Malta’s environmental problems, meaning they would act according to what the government wanted. There could be no improvement until such authorities were truly independent.