The Opposition this morning urged the government to suspend the debate on the Mepa demerger until the public consultation ends so that the views of civil society are respected.

“We are ready to hold parliamentary sessions during the summer months so as to respect the fact that a public consultation is under way,” the PN said.

The news conference, held at the Parliament building, follows a debate in parliament yesterday on the Strategic Plan for Environment and Development (SPED).

However, during yesterday's parliamentary debate, the Opposition called a division on each of the votes taken regarding amendments to the SPED document. The debate took as long as 3am as a result. In a statement, the PN said that it did so to send a message that there is something fundamentally wrong in the way the government was doing things when it came to protecting the environment.

The news conference was given by deputy leader Mario de Marco, PN MPs Ryan Callus and Marthese Portelli and party whip David Agius.

Dr de Marco said that the government worked on the SPED document for 30 months but only published the document late last week, only for it to be debated urgently this week.

He said that the government was doing the opposite to what it pledged, and it was not listening to civil society and environment NGOs, so much so that it was attempting to close the debate before the public consultation period is over.

Dr Portelli lamented that it is useless holding a public consultation when the government does not intend changing things to the better to safeguard the environment.

She noted that the words ‘feasible alternatives’ which were introduced in the new amendments only gave rise to abuse. Dr Portelli said that the new amendments removed the gist of what the NGOs were calling for when the government inserted changes to the amendments.

Ing. Callus highlighted that the Opposition was only informed one hour before the new amendments - which were initially presented by the Opposition based on the views of NGOs – were presented in parliament. “The government put aside the amendments of the NGOs,” he said. 

Mr Agius said that a House Business Committee meeting will be held on the issue on Friday evening following the Opposition’s persistence for the government to do so.

He said that the Opposition had cooperated with the government and had met with government outside parliament without holding a committee meeting of this sort to ensure that the government implements its programme. However things changed when the amendments were once again changed by the government with the Opposition being informed only 24 hours prior to the start of the debate, he explained.

Government’s actions ‘contradictory’

Ing. Callus said that the government was stating it wanted to create a natural park at Zonqor in Marsascala but at the same time was attempting to choke the environment.

He also referred to what Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said in Parliament yesterday, that the government would vote in favour of one of the amendments presented by the Opposition. Ing. Callus highlighted that Dr Muscat did not say so out of his own free will but said so because the PN presented a motion beforehand urging the government to vote in favour of a set of amendments presented by the Opposition.

He said the crux of the matter was the fact that the government did not update the SPED document or conduct any studies, evident from a paragraph in the document which read: ‘Energy Policy (2008).’

Ing. Callus said that eventually, after the Opposition’s persistence, the wording was changed to ‘National Energy Policy 2012’.

Photos: Jonathan Borg