The Nationalist Party has filed a motion to repeal a legal notice establishing a Local Enforcement System Agency, insisting that bringing local enforcement under a centralised agency undermined the principle of subsidiarity.

The agency is headed by former acting police commissioner Ray Zammit, who was removed from the post over the police force's handling of a shooting involving the driver of then-Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia, but PN deputy leader Mario de Marco insisted that his appointment was not the party's main problem with the agency.

Dr de Marco did note that the PN had reservations about the person who was selected to head the agency - as well as the way he was appointed - but stressed that the setting up of a centralised agency was the key issue.

Shadow minister for justice Jason Azzopardi said that the way the agency had been set up paved the way for the arbitrary or subjective application of the law.

He highlighted that according to the legal notice, the person heading the agency was directly appointed by the minister responsible for local councils - and was thus a person of trust - who would then be empowered to decide when, where and how to carry out local enforcement.

The PN's spokesman on local councils, opposition whip David Agius, stressed that in the past, any changes to the operations of local councils had been introduced by consensus, but lamented that the present government had bucked the trend through the creation of a new agency and through the approval - in its second reading - of a law which would do away with the 2017 local council elections.

Mr Agius also expressed concern about the lack of consultation on the new agency and on the appointment of Mr Zammit as its head.

Agency 'gives the people the change they need'

In a reaction to the opposition's motion, the government insisted that the agency "will give the people the change they desire in the sector by introducing more justice and sensibility."

It denied that consultation was lacking, pointing out that a white paper had been published and that the ensuing discussion had led the government to decide on establishing an agency "which will maximise the disparate resources that exist and ensure that the system no longer remains what it presently is: a ticket-issuing machine."

Local enforcement is presently in the hands of the five regions Malta's 68 local councils are grouped into, and the government said that as a result these regions were doing everything but their stated purpose: to serve as the intermediaries between central government and local councils, and assist both in their operations.

The government said that the Local Enforcement System Agency would be in continuous consultation with regions and local councils to be sensitive to their needs and would ensure that local wardens carry out crucial functions in the communities they are assigned to, and not solely issue fines.

In a statement, the PL said that while the government has a mandate to introduce long overdue reforms in the sector, the PN wanted to maintain the status quo. This, said the PL, showed that the opposition was out of touch with what people think and want.