PN MPs Marthese Portelli and Ryan Callus claimed yesterday that  Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has lost all his credibility after he voted against what he had pledged prior to the March 2013 election. They were referring to the amendments on the Mepa demerger presented by the Opposition the government voted against.

Addressing a news conference at parliament, Dr Portelli said the way Dr Muscat went about the Mepa demerger “betrayed” his own electoral promises and cost him one of his people, referring to PL MP Marlene Farrugia who resigned from the Labour Party but retained her parliamentary seat.

She said that the Church’s Commission for the Environment described the government’s move as a backward step in terms of protecting the environment.

“Dr Muscat decided to ignore what he had promised which shows he is not walking the talk despite having had ample opportunities to do something to protect the environment.

“Dr Muscat has ignored the amendments put forward by the Opposition,” she said, calling on Dr Muscat not to continue ignoring the PN’s proposals.

Dr Portelli vowed to continue to put forward amendments to government in relation to the Mepa demerger.

Mr Callus said one of the PN’s proposals was that environment NGOs are given the chance to choose three representatives out of the 10 which would form part of the board so that they could voice their views on environment-related issue but the government voted against it to have full control over the environment.

“This,” he said, “shows it does not care about the environment,” he continued.