opinion

All talk and no action

David Pace is not surprised that the EU Environment Commissioner avoided the funding question during her visit to Malta

Margot Wallstrom, the EU Environment Commissioner seems better informed about the state of the local environmental than most Maltese.

Most of her comments concerning Malta exposed her as an informed foreign politician who is aware of our environmental problems without understanding the mentality that produced them.

I never expected her to visit a bar in Zebbiegh or Qrendi to hear the way most hunters and trappers think. If she had, she would never have dared to say that even the hunting issue will be solved.

I’m equally sure she’s never been shot at while watching birds at Buskett or threatened while sight-seeing at the Victoria Lines or assaulted while protesting against rampant hunting!

Such incidents really make a person understand the inherent Maltese "eco-unfriendly" attitude and so most of what Wallstrom said was nice and admirable, but frankly, nice and admirable political rhetoric aimed at selling the idea of Malta joining the European Union.

The long list of environmental problems our country would have to tackle before joining the EU was old news to the informed environmentalist. I smiled when she said that she wished she had come to Malta with a sack of money.

A European Commissioner visits Malta, declares in no uncertain terms that we have to make changes that cost tens of millions of liri without providing an inkling of how to get the money!

It’s not her fault that the European Union has been projected as some sort of bottomless piggybank out of which money pours to solve the world’s problems, Malta’s included!

The pro-EU lobby should be blamed and it never seems to learn from its mistakes. It is still trying to sell the Union by dangling money as bait when every visiting EU salesperson avoids the finance issue like the plague. It’s a case of the EU gentry being the pro-EU lobby’s worst nightmare. No wonder they’re losing the battle!

POLITICAL RHETORIC!

Margot Wallstrom made a lot of salient points and said some disturbing things such as "one of the main challenges facing Europe is that of developing a Europe whereby politicians and governors reflect the needs of the citizens."

In danger of being dubbed naïve, I always thought politicians were elected to represent the citizens and regarded European statesman as less parochial than Maltese politicians who have to back-stab, lie and cheat their way through a limited political arena where the single vote of Cikku tal-Haxix can hold a party to ransom.

Wallstrom’s quote seems to question the basis of democracy and alleges that politicians are elected to follow their own agendas instead of the citizens they are supposed to represent!

In a way, this admission revealed Wallstrom’s sincerity and helped to clarify why the EU is still plagued by serious environmental problems that still affect the North sea and EU countries such as Greece and Portugal.

Wallstrom’s preoccupation with local problems including sustainable development, waste disposal, water treatment, hunting and trapping and land-use have been highlighted by Maltese environmental pressure groups and Alternattiva Demokratika for the last decade.

She can rest assured that the minister has been hearing the same dirge for the last 10 years without lifting a finger to do anything. Wallstrom, a seasoned politician, actually also highlighted the main problem regarding the environment: government apathy!

Now, that Mnajdra has been the focus of vandals, the Maghtab landfill has polluted the sea and the entire Maltese environment has gone haywire, the government’s attempt to budge include passing a half-baked bill to protect natural heritage, issuing still more studies and bringing over EU commissioners to tell us what we already know.

Ms Wallstrom said that all environment problems can be solved … another case of political rhetoric. If a country has millions to spend, it can solve most environmental problems. But try repairing the cliff-sides scooped out of Madliena to make room for high-class apartments or the valley sides busted by rampant quarrying at Wied il-Ghasel.

The EU commissioner must have surely known that an environmentally degraded area rarely regains its original beauty.

For the last 20 years anarchy has ruled on the Maltese environmental scene. The present government has been in office for the last 14 years and must have seen this coming.

The blame falls squarely on the shoulders of governments who have allowed specific interest groups to blackmail them. This has become so ridiculous that no government has had the political backbone to tell such groups off.

The only way out left?

Shift responsibility onto

the EU!

EU HELP?

To be fair, Ms Wallstrom explained at length how EU expertise can help solve local environmental problems, but the financing issue still remains a problem.

The EU negotiators should have informed her about the new polarity emerging out of the EU debate. There are those who see the EU as the only force capable of solving our severe environmental problems; and those who believe the Maltese people as capable of solving their own problems.

Both groups are looking at the problem in a somewhat simplistic way. As Margot Wallstrom elucidated, the EU has the legal and administrative framework (the bureaucracy) to tackle environmental problems (again without mentioning the funding aspect).

I have to keep on mentioning the funding element because, at present it is the only issue which can really solve our problems. The present government has been promising funds from the EU for a long time and they have never arrived. So I don’t think anyone can blame me for having doubts about EU funding.

After promises of pre-accession funds quickly evaporated, the pro-EU lobby is now saying that the monies will arrive just after accession. If Malta becomes a member and there’s still no money, I’m sure they will find a new excuse!

The pro-EU lobby group also likes to promote its interests by pushing the very embarrassing idea that the EU will solve our environmental problems on accession. This is actually damaging the government by highlighting its failure to solve them!

On the other side of the political spectrum, the anti-EU lobby is trying to shake the patriotic stick. Do they really believe we are capable of repairing severe environmental damage that cost tens of millions of liri?

Apart from the fact that we do not possess an information database on the level of air, water and heavy metal pollution around the Maltese Islands, we also lack the technology to deal with such problems. Add to these the inherent selfishness of the Maltese people, the political power wielded by specific interest groups and the lack of environmentally conscious MPs and things look very bleak.