The Labour Party said yesterday it was becoming increasingly clear that, as it had always claimed, the Nationalist government had not been properly prepared for the implications of European Union membership, especially where the environment was concerned.

MLP spokespersons Joe Brincat and Roderick Galdes said it should be noted that Malta now had four pending cases of warnings by the European Commission, and all of them related to the environment.

Apart from the highly embarrassing issue of spring hunting, the EC was now expressing doubt about the Maltese government’s behaviour in extending the development zones. The EC also intended to start legal action against Malta for the incomplete transposition of the Landfill Directive.

It had also now emerged, the spokespersons added, that procedures had already been started by the EC in connection with the provision of technical details about greenhouse gas emissions.

This situation, they added, confirmed what the Labour Party had always argued – that the Nationalist government had never been prepared for the implications of EU membership, especially where the environment was involved.

The spokespersons condemned the “weak and irresponsible” behaviour of the government for the excessive delay in providing technical information about emissions. It was not acceptable that, because of incompetence at the Environment Ministry, Malta should lose its credibility and fail in its Kyoto Protocol obligations about climate change, they said.