Government ‘sidelining’ environment - PN

Quoting environment minister Leo Brincat’s protestations that he was not consulted on the revision of outside development zones (ODZ), the MPs said “Brincat’s admissions expose how the environment is being sidelined, because if the minister is being ignored at this stage, let alone the new environment authority.”

Bonnici and Callus insisted that government’s decision to split MEPA into two separate authorities, one dealing with planning and the other with environment, would relegate the latter to “the second division.”  

The opposition MPs also asked whether Brincat was consulted on the reform and whether the minister and the new authority would be reduced to a mere dissenting voice “when the  damage would have been done.”