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Julian Manduca
Even if one fully agrees with EU membership for environmental reasons, to those in the know it must now be painfully obvious that Malta is not prepared to join the EU, at least in the sphere of environment.
Nationalist Party leader-elect Lawrence Gonzi recently announced that the environment, and waste in particular, are to be high up on the government’s priority list, but in the months since it became clear that Malta would be an EU member, not enough has been done to ensure Malta is to be compliant 1 May.
Malta has had to legislate and put into place all the administrative bodies that will be required for Malta to comply with EU legislation, but MaltaToday is informed that much of the administrative set up is not in place and not all the necessary legislation has been passed.
Since the environment department was merged with the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, it has become the competent authority to ensure EU directives are complied with.
Some of the EU directives which have still to be transposed include that on noise, whereas others that are in an advanced state of preparation according to MEPA, are those related to the Water Framework, Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control, and Strategic Environment Assessment. There are also a number of amendments to various legal notices that are required to be made to bring Malta fully in line by 1 May 2004.
When MaltaToday asked MEPA about Malta’s state of preparedness, PRO Sylvana Debono explained the difficulties involved: “There are some 200 regulations, directives and decisions which require action by MEPA. Each requires an array of actions, many of which are onerous and require significant study and consultation. “Many directives where MEPA is the competent authority have already been transposed. Legal notices already issued include those on nature protection, waste, water quality, industrial pollution control, and air quality.”
However, legislation is only part of the problem and Debono told MaltaToday about the difficulties of preparing the administrative resources to implement the EU Directives and Regulations. Once Malta is an EU member it will be subject to EU regulations and could be liable to fines should they not be followed.
“MEPA’s Environment Protection Directorate is in the process of building capacity to implement the environmental acquis, through various pre-accession (EU funded) projects, however resources to deliver on time are stretched. Despite its small size, Malta’s obligations are no smaller than of any larger country in the EU. To date a number of boards and permit awarding authorities and procedures have been set up. These include the Radiation Protection Board, the Ornis Committee, the Bio-Safety
Coordinating Committee and the Integrated Pollution Prevention Control Committee. There are still a number of such boards and procedures required to be set up.”
MEPA’s staff compliment is not enough to meet the capacity required for Malta’s EU commitment: “In 2002, the EU Commission identified a need for a considerable
strengthening in staff, particularly in the fields of inspection and permitting. At the same time, there are financial and resource constraints. Given EU limits to fiscal expenditure, the pressure is on to cut costs and to curtail recruitment. In addition, changes in ministerial portfolios and the general elections in April 2003, resulted in changes in competent authorities and delayed ability to deliver.”
MEPA still remains without a head for its environment directorate almost a year following Ray Piscopo’s resignation. Two calls for applicants have been made but none of the selected candidates have accepted the post. The void remains an indication of how difficult Malta is finding it to provide the human resources necessary to comply with EU membership rules.
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