The Nationalist Party has issued a statement calling for the government to come up with a “holistic plan” to safeguard the island of Comino.

In a statement on Tuesday, the PN said that “whoever is the cause of the problem, cannot solve it.”

“For another year, we are close to the summer season and the situation in Comino has remained miserable,” the party said.

The Opposition party said that after observing the damage done to its environment in previous summers and contemplating what the Government could do differently to stop this “negligence”, “the fact remains that the Government refuses to fix the situation because it does not care about the natural heritage of Comino.”

The party has issued that it wants a “holistic plan” to be devised to combat the present situation that has left the Natura 2000 site as “an island full of waste where there is no appreciation for the natural environment and room for abuse.” PN also said that Comino will remain in this situation unless the Government stops postponing its mentioned “plan” for the island.

PN also criticised Minister Clayton Bartolo for “avoiding giving clear answers for several years” when he was previously asked queries on this subject in Parliament by other MPs. The party said that the Minister for Tourism and Public Cleanliness has done so by refusing to answer these questions or saying that the information being requested is of a sensitive nature that cannot be disclosed.

Additionally, the Nationalist Party expressed their lack of confidence that the Government’s aforementioned Comino plan will be implemented and that it will feature measures addressing all parts of the island. The party wrote that although Minister Bartolo had stated that Comino does not just comprise of Blue Lagoon, it said that not even the promised plan for this bay has yet come into force, “let alone a holistic plan that includes measures for the entire island of Comino.”

The statement concluded by asking, “How can the people believe that the Government has an interest in fixing the situation in Comino?” and by stating that “Whoever is the cause of the problem, cannot solve it.”

PN’s statement was signed by its Shadow Minister for Environment, Rebekah Borg, its Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Public Cleanliness, Eve Borg Bonello, and its Shadow Minister for Gozo, Alex Borg.