The government will be in a position to announce its decisions on the reform of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority by the year's end, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said last night.

The issue had been one of the cornerstones of the PN's electoral campaign, in which Dr Gonzi had pledged to undertake a full reform of the authority. Following the election, the Office of the Prime Minister had relinquished the reins of the finance ministry in favour of the environment ministry, and by default Mepa as well, for the current legislature.

Speaking at a public meeting at the Granaries, Floriana last night as part of the Nationalist Party's Independence celebrations, Dr Gonzi said that even those who had been the most critical of Mepa over the years nevertheless acknowledged a great deal of good had been done by the authority.

There have, however, been mistakes in the past, he observed. Along these lines, he said certain policies could do with a reworking and that more could have been done to ensure quality development while also protecting the countryside from development.

Broadly speaking, the reform is expected to implement practices at the authority fostering greater transparency, accountability and consistency in its decisions, while at the same time rendering its enforcement capacity more robust.

Between now and the end of the year, Dr Gonzi said he would be meeting with Mepa staff, after which the government would be formulating its decisions.

Speaking the evening before the PN's first mass meeting since that celebrating its 8 March electoral victory, Dr Gonzi said the new Parliamentary Select Committee was making headway and that the matter of ironing out measures to restrict the possibility of conflicts of interest on the part of ministers and parliamentary secretaries was now under discussion.

The vast majority of Malta's politicians, Dr Gonzi said, were there to give their all and to serve the country, and could be seen – at local council, government and European Union level – doing just that.

Similarly, Dr Gonzi said more progress could be made in the area of ethics as pertains to members of the judiciary. While the Commission for the Administration of Justice was there to regulate members of the judiciary, Dr Gonzi questioned whether it was enough. More, he said, could be done in the area through consultations with judges and magistrates themselves.