Important details of the Mepa reform are missing from the Bill currently before Parliament, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this morning.
Replying to questions by three journalists, Dr Muscat said that the Bill gave the minister the power to draw up regulations.
“We would like to know what kind of regulations the minister intends to draw up so that we can judge,” he said.
He also pointed out that as the Authority’s audit officer had said, what was even more important than the reform was the need to bring about a culture change.
The Labour leader also spoke on in increase in water and electricity tariffs and said talks with the social partners should have taken place before the tariffs came into force, not afterward. The PL, however, would call for a parliamentary debate on the legal notice which brought the tariffs into force.
He criticised the fact that Mepa would be deciding on the extension of the Delimara power station this Thursday while the government was refusing to discuss the matter in Parliament until a report on corruption allegations was concluded by the Auditor-General.
This did not make sense and double standards were being applied, Dr Muscat argued.
Asked about the PL court case over VAT charged on vehicle registration tax, Dr Muscat said he was pleased that EU commissioner-designate John Dalli was speaking on how the right of class action could be introduced at a European level.
It seemed, Dr Muscat said, that the government had not learnt anything from the case and consumers were still not being given any consideration.
For example, people who bought a car in December did not know that had they waited until the New Year they could have saved a lot of money thanks to changes which came into force.
Dr Muscat congratulated Mr Dalli and said he was sure that, as Commissioner Borg did before him, he would garner respect.
Dr Muscat hoped that the know-how acquired by Joe Borg in the past four years would now be utilised by the country, even to train new people, especially in preparation for when Malta assumed the EU presidency.
The Labour leader called for a patient charter that worked. This, he said, should list the maximum time a person could wait for an operation and once this was exceeded the government would have to shoulder responsibility and pay for the person to have the operation in the private sector.
On identity cards, the Labour leader said he expected the Electoral Commission and the police to assume responsibility for an efficient, secure system. It was unacceptable that the people’s personal data and the system through which voting documents were issued was subcontracted to a private company.