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Matthew Vella
Nationalist party president Victor Scerri yesterday reaffirmed government’s extension of development zones as “an exercise in justice and sustainable development”, just an hour after attending yesterday’s environment rally along with other PN councillors and MPs.
He said the presence of PN officials yesterday was one stating the party’s commitment towards the environment, but could not take the demonstration as a protest against the new development zones.
“I wouldn’t say the protest was ultimately against the proposed development zones. It was a demonstration in favour of the environment, and the PN attended because it is in favour of the environment,” Scerri said.
Also present for yesterday’s rally was Pieta councillor Malcolm Mifsud, MPs Joseph Falzon and Franco Galea, and MEP David Casa.
Scerri said the rally brought together demonstrators representing various issues under the environmental and animal rights umbrella: “I cannot say the rally sent a message of dissatisfaction with government’s environmental programme. I don’t think it was a protest against government. I’ve been to protests against governments, and the numbers of those who attended were in their thousands.”
Some 500 demonstrators yesterday participated in the rally organised by Flimkien Ghall-Ambjent Ahjar, which included the participation of some 19 organisations and Alternattiva Demokratika, the Green party.
“It is the Nationalist government which increased the environmental budget from Lm3 million to Lm32 million since 1990, and we have to consider one of Lawrence Gonzi’s three pillars in his government programme is the environment. Whoever administers the country must take many issues into consideration, and it useless to surmise situations in which industrial estates could not be extended, or where people would end up living in caves and trees. A government must balance out these considerations,” Scerri said.
The PN president said it would be a “disservice” to say the rally had been a statement of opposition to the development zones. “Many issues were being represented,” Scerri said, reiterating the show of force yesterday was the rather vaguely put aim of being “in favour of the environment”.
In a statement yesterday, the PN said the Nationalist government was a springboard of initaitives in favour of the environment, citing the closure of rubbish dumps, the waste manegement project, and recycling projects it had ushered in the past few years.
mvella@mediatoday.com.mt
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