Granted that politicians tend to go ballistic when they discuss the pros and cons of each year’s budget, one must be prepared to make allowances for displays of euphoria by the spin doctors of the respective party political machines. On the other hand, one expects responsible ministers to measure their statements, considering that even their obiter dicta go permanently on record.

All of this notwithstanding, this year’s budget happens to be a pre-election budget and, like lesser politicians, ministers who do not watch their step can succumb to the inebriation of their own exuberance.

George Pullicino, Minister for Rural Affairs and the Environment, did just than when he praised this year’s budget to the high heavens (The Times, 22 October)

He attributed “green credentials” to the budget, which, in his words, is “about delivering on a pledge that the Gonzi administration set out to achieve when a pair of safe hands took charge of Malta’s helm in March 2004”. Mr Pullicino then proceeded to inflate this assertion by claiming, even if belatedly, that the budget “harnesses” the Maltese environment, and gives “more life to a resurging economy”.

Independent assessment

This flies in the face of a harsh and outspoken assessment of Malta’s environmental deficit, published earlier in the month, by the same newspaper.

It was an indictment in three instalments by Martin Scicluna, founder of the National Commission for Sustainable Development, which was constituted earlier this year (and council member of Europa Nostra).

Mr Scicluna stated bluntly “the evolving state of our environment in the last few years has been like watching a car crash in slow motion. Rampant development and land abuse, the progressive destruction of urban conservation areas and village cores, the creeping urbanization of Gozo – these savage our past and intrude, for the worse, into every aspect of our lives. They exacerbate the environmental deficit, of which unbridled construction – fuelled by huge sums of cash looking for a respectable home – must bear the major part of the blame.”

The shabby state of our islands scarred by dumps and litter – despite the Prime Minister’s worthy vow soon after he took office of “zero tolerance” on this, our chokingly poor air quality, excessive noise pollution, the threat to our fresh water quality, inland coastal waters and marine environment, the pressures on our remaining biological diversity and the gross impact of excessive transport use and solid and liquid waste add up to a picture of a country running a huge – and uncontrolled – environmental deficit.

Formidable challenge

Mr Scicluna pointed out that, although a halting start has been made under the, thankfully, watchful eye of the EU, the ground which still has to be covered in the regulatory and implementation fields is formidable and growing.

He pointed out that Malta’s small size and heavy population density make us environmentally more vulnerable. But these factors are all the more reason for us to take better care of our environment.

Air quality suffers as a result of inefficient energy generation and excessive transport use. Greenhouse and other toxic gases add to global warming and particulate air pollution from quarrying and building construction poison the atmosphere we breathe. Renewable energy sources are a distant dream. Water quality in our aquifers is at risk from the most profligate over-extraction and from fertilisers and other intense agricultural practices.

Our inshore sea waters are suffering from marine contamination hazards, including sewage, oil spills and land based discharges and a range of other pollutants. Despite major improvements in the sewage system, effluents are still discharged untreated into the sea, resulting in pollution, the degradation of our marine flora and fauna and health threats to bathers and divers. The islands’ rare natural habitats are under threat, and many have been obliterated by concrete. A number of endemic species have become extinct. In all these areas, Malta lags well behind the benchmarks set by the EU.

Core of the problem

Failure to enforce the law – a lack of national discipline – lies at the core of the environmental deficit. Lack of application of the law brings the government into disrepute and undermines respect for the rule of law, which is the very basis of civilised society.

I have quoted extensively from Mr Scicluna’s independent indictment.

He has much more to say, not least about the need to control construction development, and about the way in which, in many instances, MEPA’s perverse decisions have added up to the overall picture of institutionalised vandalism.

In equal measure, Mr Scicluna thundered his maledictions on those who “betrayed” Valletta, which now constitutes a major part of our national environmental deficit.

At the root of this problem – a direct cause and reflection of the environmental deficit – is our greed and avarice, claimed Mr Scicluna. ‘

“Rather than combat it, the government appears to condone it under the mantra of ‘economic development’, crucially forgetting that economic growth on its own is not progress. Excessive construction dogs Malta progress,” he insisted.

Mr Pullicino has presided, in a ministerial capacity, over the Maltese environmental scene for the last three years or so. But a Nationalist administration has occupied the cockpit for the best part of 20 years.

In the light of Mr Scicluna’s indictment, it has a lot to answer for. George Pullicino, in particular, is least qualified to claim merit for achievement – in environment terms

In this sector, for sure, there is a cast-iron case for a new beginning.

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