Brincat - environmental policies across the EU need to be enforced

Environment minister Leo Brincat has called on the various regulators in charge of enforcing EU environmental policy to show that they are "watchdogs and not lap dogs", whilst insisting that policy-making without implementation would count for little.

"The various proposals discussed and agreed upon in principle can only yield the desired results if they are actually put into practice. Policy formulation is, in itself, an effective tool but if it stops short of policy implementation it will have failed to serve its purpose," Brincat said.

"It is only through effective, continuous and consistent regulation that one can ensure that through such policy implementation all the IMPEL participant countries are actually falling in line with all that is expected of them," he said.

The minister was speaking at an EU conference, held in Malta, on Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Legislation (IMPEL), describing the discussions as "intensive and highly stimulating".

Brincat said that whilst it was positive that issues such as waste were being given their due importance, he said that we should not be afraid to think "outside the box".

"What is imperative is that whether we rely on long tried and tested methods or else resort to new initiatives, it is imperative that we should be led by one specific guiding light - the need to rely on best practices while ensuring that the highest standards are retained without affording the 'luxury' of succumbing to any complacency or slippage," Brincat said.