Opposition refuse to debate MEPA demerger until civil society is consulted

The Opposition have stuck to their promise not to participate in a parliamentary debate on the proposed demerger of MEPA into two separate arms until the culmination of a public consultation with civil society.   

“Discussing it now is a sham and an insult to both Opposition MPs and to civil society,” PN deputy leader Mario de Marco said during the second reading of one of the three Bills through which the MEPA split will be enacted. ““Does the government expect us to discuss this law without any proper input from civil society who we ultimately represent? If the government wants to go ahead with the second reading without a debate, then it can do so and shoulder the responsibility for it.”

Earlier today, during the second reading of another of the three Bills, De Marco said that the Opposition will not “be an accomplice in this travesty and in this sham of a debate” unless government decides to postpone it.

Describing the situation as ‘surreal’, De Marco pointed out that the Bill was only published in the Government Gazette on Friday and that the government held a consultation meeting with NGOs on Tuesday, while giving them less than 24 hours’ prior notice.

“Civil society criticised this consultation as a sham and the government has since realized that it must set up a proper consultation- that was first set for three weeks and then four weeks, when NGOs pointed out that they were bound to do so according to the Aarhus Convention.”

Planning parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon said that the Opposition were e-mailed the Bill last month, at which Opposition MP Ryan Callus retorted that the argument was not about when it reached the PN’s ears but about when it reached civil society’s.

‘Planning Authority will include two permanent members of Environment Authority’

Earlier, Falzon allayed fears by the Opposition that the demerger will relegate the environment to an “external consultant” to the Planning Authority.

He argued that the Planning Authorty’s executive council –its policy making body – will include two permanent members of the Environmental Authority.  

“This will ensure that all planning policies will have environmental input from their conception,” Falzon said, adding that the policy making body of the Environmental Authority will not likewise include any representatives from the Planning Authority.

He added the government is considering spatial environmental and developmental policies and that a new policy has banned the construction of residences in land outside development zones.

He said that no more “significant” changes will be made to ODZ land, pointing out that 2,160,000 square metres of ODZ were rendered developable in the 2006 rationalisation scheme.

“If a conflict in policies arises, the spatial policy in favour of the environment will trump all the others,” he said. “The Environmental Authority will also be able to appeal decisions by the Planning Authority in front of a tribunal, something that MEPA’s Environmental Directorate cannot currently do against its own Planning Directorate.”