The second reading of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority Bill was passed through Parliament last Saturday. It was the next step of the government’s plan to reform the authority, and arrived after nearly two years of consultation with the stakeholders.

The Labour Party voted against the bill, saying it was visionless, and that it would not lead to the changes that are needed. For its part, the government believes that what it is proposing will make Mepa more accountable, transparent and consistent.

The Mepa reform is one of the government’s priorities in this term. Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, just before the election, announced that he would be taking the environment under his wing. He did so, and was deeply involved in the preparatory stages of the reform before it was handed over to parliamentary secretary Mario de Marco last summer, for him to conclude.

Dr Gonzi’s pledge that the environment remains part of the Office of the Prime Minister was probably the main reason why Dr de Marco was not promoted to minister when Dr Gonzi made some changes to the Cabinet in February. Dr Gonzi could not renege on his pre-electoral promise, and although the environment portfolio was passed on to Dr de Marco, it still forms part of the PM’s direct responsibilities.

The thing is, in Malta sometimes we expect things to change overnight. We think that matters will change at the push of a button. It happened when Malta joined the EU – there were many who thought matters would change on 1 May 2004 when, really, membership is an ongoing process.

Things do not change overnight. Reforms are not just the piece of paper they are written on. They are a concept that needs to be planned and implemented, and this inevitably takes time.

It has taken time for the legislation regarding Mepa to be drawn up after months of meetings and discussion. It is taking time for the law to be passed through Parliament after it was made public earlier this year. And it will take time for the measures that are being proposed to take shape for Mepa to work more efficiently.

Yet it seems that some quarters have already made up their mind that things will not work. They are already of the opinion that the reform will not lead to the necessary changes that Mepa desperately needs. They have already condemned the reform as a failure.

And it’s not only the Opposition that has expressed this doom and gloom scenario. Even some environmental NGOs have, in one way or other, already denounced the reform as a failure. The protest they held a few weeks ago is a clear example that, for them, the reform has failed before it has started.

This is a wrong attitude to take. Students are not given a zero mark before they sit for an exam. Likewise, the Mepa reform cannot be judged before it is implemented. Now, if we already have the Labour Party and NGOs saying it will not work, they are already fomenting a negative mind-set in the people who are supposed to implement this reform.

As said before, a reform is not only words on paper. It is a concept, and a change of mentality is needed for the new ideas to work. By shooting down this concept before it comes to life, the Opposition and these NGOs are providing the excuse to those people within the Mepa structure who would rather leave things as they are, than change for the better.

Give the reform a chance.