The opposition’s main spokesman on the environment, Leo Brincat, told Parliament on Monday that after years of talk on the environment, Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco recently admitted on TV that the island was still facing an environmental deficit.
The House Public Accounts Committee could never be a good watchdog when Ministers sit as members and question their own civil servants
He said Dr de Marco and the Prime Minister had come up with a new National Environmental Policy that had given rise to criticism, indifference and even scepticism from the most unexpected quarters. One would have expected the Prime Minister to come up with a concrete action plan.
The Cabinet had imposed on Resources Minister George Pullicino that the planned gigantic incinerator in the south of could not be installed before 2015 – a clear example of how electoral considerations came before people’s health.
Mepa’s latest environmental permit for Enemalta to fire its power station extension with heavy fuel oil – what Mr Brincat called a tragic environmental decision on a simple show of hands – had shown that Mepa was a bedfellow not only with Enemalta but also with the government, with certain consultants, with auditors and also with BWSC.
Alfred Sant said the 2012 budget tried to satisfy both the European Commission and the middle class to the detriment of the lower class.
Current expenditure was strongly relevant to the GDP. But proper scrutiny could only be made through a three-year projection of the government’s expendi-ture together with the introduction of accruals. Reducing expenditure was the only way forward.
Referring to the government’s accountability and public scrutiny, Dr Sant said that the problem existed in the way the legal framework was being implemented.
There was disloyalty to such constitutional practices even by Parliament. Institutions meant to oversee government spending have been under the control of the same government they have to audit.
The House Public Accounts Committee could never be a good watchdog when Ministers sit as members and question their own civil servants. The Auditor General should also focus on managerial efficiency.
Dr Sant said that it was not ideal that the Auditor General had not yet submitted his 2010 report.
While this was in line with constitutional obligations, it did not make sense to be discussing new financial estimates when last year’s report had not yet been submitted.
The Maltese economy would not be able to face financial and economic turmoil if it was not strengthened. There was the need for more information on the black economy and on the business of online betting.
According to the IMF, online betting amounted to nine per cent of Malta’s economy while as recounted by the European Commission black economy was equivalent to 27 per cent of Malta’s economy.
It was also extraordinary how a Parliament in this day and age did not have a committee on economics which could give accurate accounts of the economy.