It is now pretty sure that Leo Brincat’s (The PN’s dented green credentials, TMID, 3 February) main problem with the recently published draft national sStrategy to tackle greenhouse gases emissions which contribute to climate change, was its timing. Brincat is angry and annoyed that his bubble burst and his misperceived motion turned into a political boomerang.
Brincat is, to say the least, puerile. Had he used the space to him available in the various local newspapers in a fruitful way, Labour could today boast of having come up with a concrete position, one which could pave the way for the much needed consensus which would then facilitate the strategy’s implementation. Instead, Leo is still recriminating that he was outsmarted and that the government took “the wind out of our (Labour’s) sails”.
To continue on Brincat’s euphemism, it is not only Labour’s sails which are experiencing problems, but it’s the whole ship which is fast going down. Long gone are the “stagun politiku gdid” (new political season) slogans. What we have is much of the same from Labour, if not worse.
At the time of writing this article, 20 days have passed since Leo Brincat first got to know about this draft strategy. Three weeks later, and almost midway through the consultation process, Brincat is still clinging to the misinformed support he got by misleading NGOs into thinking that his 153-word resolution was in fact a Private Members Bill on climate change.
Brincat, and Labour, are in a perpetual state of denial. They haven’t yet fathomed the fact that the popular verdict of March 2008 condemned them to another five years in opposition. They oppose concrete proposals by burying their heads in the sand and pretending that nothing is happening around them. Which is the most simple, and most opportunistic way, of opposing 87 proposals contained in a document presented by a government-appointed team of experts? Simple, propose nothing and just say that your non-proposal was better!
Allow me to also point out that Brincat did not even bother to read the final text of the approved resolution by the House of Representatives. The government has committed itself to a parliamentary debate after the closure, and within a month of the public consultation process and has also committed itself to annual reporting on the issue.
Brincat goes as far as attacking the PN’s decision of setting up a focus group on climate change. Quite bold, coming from a senior figure of a party who tried to portray a simple, long overdue energy audit in their party’s headquarters as if it was an environmental milestone. And what about Labour’s, sorry the PL’s, position on the matter? Is it anywhere near in being finalised? So far I haven’t even heard that they have started to work on it!
Incidentally, it is rather ironic that Labour announced the setting up of a technical committee to help it formulate its position on the draft revision of the waste management strategy, days after the Opposition Leader had publicly declared Labour’s criticism to it! Is it a case where Muscat’s comments were premature (and immature) or will the technical committee simply serve as a rubber stamp to Labour’s already declared stand?
Labour must also declare whether it will make public the names of the persons who will sit on this committee. We have had enough anonymous reports from Labour. Past experience has also taught us that it is easy for people to seek anonymity while changing their positions drastically over the years. Sant’Antnin should be an eye opener for everyone!
Muscat went even further than just criticising, by trying to give the impression that nothing has been done in this country on waste. That is the biggest vote of no-confidence that the Opposition Leader could give to the ever increasing number of private citizens, local councils, private and public entities who are actively collaborating in continuing our success story in this sector. Maybe Muscat doesn’t drive past the closed dump at Maghtab, neither does he come across one of the hundreds of bring-in sites which are, literally, all over the place, and never did he have the opportunity to visit a civic amenity site. Pity, because the people whom he aspires to lead one day are just doing that and are participating enthusiastically.
Brincat touches upon other issues such as the plastic bags measure and the budget incentives for solar water heaters and pv’s. Isn’t it about time that Labour declares its position on these issues? On the issue of plastic bags, so far we have had Joseph Muscat declaring solemnly that Labour is in favour of a total ban (in a parliamentary speech on 10 November 2008 where he gave Labour’s reaction to the budget speech) and Brincat suggesting a differentiated approach. May I also point out that Muscat’s idea of a total ban gives the impression that the man knows little, or nothing, on how the EU operates and about the realities of the single European market.
We have made the same argument on the issue of a ban on incandescent light bulbs – such a ban would be effective and enforceable only if the ban applies to all the EU member states. How can one expect to stop anyone from getting plastic bags into Malta if plastic bags are not banned also in the other member states?
On the issue of the IRENA, Malta was present at the conference which founded the agency and we will decide in due course on whether to join it.
One last word – Brincat promises us that he will “write at length” shortly on wind farms. Maybe he would do well to ask his colleague Roderick Galdes to announce the findings of a technical committee he had set up to advise him on where to site such wind farms (TMID, 12 July, 2008). To date, notwithstanding two public appeals, we still have got no answer!
George Pullicino
is Resources and Rural Affairs Minister