Greens say Bezzina should resign as agriculture spokesperson over ODZ villa

Alternattiva Demokratika has called for Nationalist MP Toni Bezzina to resign or be removed from his position of spokesperson for agriculture after having submitted a planning application for the development of a dwelling on land outside development zones.

On Sunday, Labour Party media revealed that Bezzina had applied to develop a three-bedroom house, complete with a swimming pool, in an ODZ area in Rabat through an application submitted by his wife.

The application, submitted by his wife Josette Bezzina last November, proposes the “rehabilitation and restoration of an existing almond grove and World War II living quarters and an observation room”, as well as a “proposed pool and new access”.

Bezzina has since withdrawn the application.

Toni Bezzina had applied to develop a three-bedroom house, complete with a swimming pool, in an ODZ area in Rabat

AD deputy chairperson Carmel Cacopardo said that Bezzina’s application called into question his commitment to the PN’s new environmental policy which was launched last month and co-authored by Bezzina.

"Toni Bezzina applied for a development permit to further develop existing rooms in an ODZ zone, increasing the development in such a way as to end up with his own ODZ villa. This casts doubt on how much Toni Bezzina, one of the authors of the recently published  PN environmental document, actually believes in the content and declarations in this document," Cacopardo said.

He criticised PN leader Simon Busuttil, who when questioned by MaltaToday on Tuesday insisted that Bezzina did nothing “illegal or irregular” by filing the planning application in his wife’s name.

"The leader of his party is making a political error of judgement when he declared that Bezzina is not in the wrong,” Cacopardo said.

He questioned the value of policy declarations when those promising to implement the proposals take actions that contradict them.

“Is the PN leader saying that his party's policy declarations are not worth the paper they are printed on?" Cacopardo asked.

Busuttil had admitted that the application raised questions on whether it was acceptable for a member of his shadow cabinet to file applications in ODZ areas.

Pressed over the fact that the PN had taken parliamentary secretary Ian Borg to task after it emerged that a planning permission had not been filed under his name, Busuttil insisted that the case was different, adding that the PN had protested against the irregularities in Borg’s application, filed in his father’s name.