Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said today that he will nominate Marlene Farrugia to continue to serve as chair of the Parliamentary Environment Committee.

In a statement this afternoon, the Labour Party however said this breached basic parliamentary rules and if Dr Busuttil wanted Dr Farrugia in the committee, he should nominate her to replace one of his MPs.

Front Harsien ODZ in a separate statement also said it wishes to see Dr Farrugia to continue to chair the committee. 

Dr Farrugia resigned her chair on Monday when she quit the Labour parliamentary group in protest against her party's environmental credentials.

The Standing Orders say that: "There shall be a Standing Committee on Environment and Development Planning which shall consist of five members appointed by the House, of whom three shall be members supporting the Government, one of whom shall be appointed as Chairman, and the other two shall be members from the Opposition."

The appointment of the chairman, therefore, needs to be approved by the government.

The website of the House of Representatives no longer lists Dr Farrugia as a member of the committee. 

In a reaction, Dr Farrugia said that while she was grateful to Dr Busuttil, prior to accepting this nomination, she wanted to hear the views of ENGOs and others who have environment and development planning at heart.

"If these agree with my nomination, I am prepared to take over this duty again in order to keep raising awareness and strengthening the participation of society at large in environmental and planning stewardship," she said.

Later she tweeted that she was humbled by the confidence expressed in her by the eNGOs.

PL STATEMENT

In a statement, the Labour Party said according to Parliamentary democracy and the Standing Orders the government had three representatives and the chairmanship of the committee.

Dr Farrugia had been correct to resign and did so because she knew of this basic parliamentary principle. However, it seemed Dr Busuttil did not.

NGOs WANTS FARRUGIA TO STAY ON

Front Harsien ODZ in a statement called on the Prime Minister to reappoint Dr Farrugia as chairman of Parliament's environment committee and amend the law to make this possible.

"Marlene Farrugia has distinguished herself in giving a meaningful voice to civil society in the democratic process and in the formulation of new planning policies and on controversial issues like the American University of Malta. She has also ensured greater transparency through the grilling of public officials involved in these decisions who had to answer questions by civil society," the front said.

"This represented a marked improvement over the way the committee was run under the previous administration when civil society was not invited to participate in these meetings.

"Therefore we strongly appeal to the Prim Minister to re-appoint Farrugia in this role. Such a mature decision would strengthen the government's
democratic and environmental credentials. As an independent MP Farrugia would be in a better position to reach out to civil society."

In another statement, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Friends of the Earth Malta and Ramblers Association said they supported Dr Farrugia's resignation following the government’s refusal to allow greater civil society participation on the board of the new Environment Authority.

"This resignation comes as a breath of fresh air, clearly illustrating that politicians in Malta are able to stand by their conviction and integrity, as opposed to bowing to partisan pressure at every turn," the NGOs said.

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