Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1107757
NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 21 APRIL 2019 YANNICK PACE ALTERNATTIVA Demokrati- ka has accused the government and Opposition of complicity in the destruction of Malta and Gozo. At a press conference yesterday addressed by party leader Car- mel Cacopardo and MEP can- didate Mina Tolu, AD said that parliament's approval of a mo- tion in favour of the permanent link between the two islands "undermined the integrity of the decision-making process of reg- ulatory authorities". "The approval by parliament of a motion earlier this week to support the undersea tunnel between Malta and Gozo is in- deed a declaration of complicity to ruin Gozo. It's a declaration whereby parliament is trying to condition the authorities and institutions which have to weigh and analyse the project when the application is submitted," Ca- copardo said. "It is useless for PN and PL to shed crocodile tears about the need for public authorities to do their job with integrity and neutrality and to then condition the way they act in such a critical moment." He insisted that a rapid ferry service could easily facilitate mo- bility between Malta and Gozo, without creating "substantial en- vironmental impacts". The party said that the impacts of the tunnel would not only in- clude vast amounts of construc- tion waste and the "scourge of sea reclamation being proposed by government and powerful lobbies", but would substantially increase vehicle movement be- tween the two islands – some- thing, it said, went contrary to the national transport plan, "which requires that cars on the roads decrease, not increase". It said the financial success of the proposed tunnel was de- pendent on vehicles crossing be- tween the islands because of the income of the tunnel operators from vehicle crossings, adding that this would be an incentive to encourage more traffic. "We have a parliament of hyp- ocrites which preaches in favour of environmental protection, including Gozo: but now when push has come to shove, their masks have fallen. Shamefully the motion was approved unani- mously." Cacopardo asked why the preliminary geological studies have so far been "kept secret". "We know that the public con- sultation on the environmental impact study has not been con- ducted yet and that environ- mental studies are still pend- ing." The party added that the pro- jected expenditure was still not known since this depends on the outcomes on studies which have not been completed and pub- lished yet. "Similar projects abroad, albeit connecting vast masses of land with huge populations, show that even the projected costs can soar, given the unpredictability of this kind of work. "Contrary to the PLPN, bent on the destruction of Gozo, AD believes in Gozo as an ecologi- cal island. The others believe, in cahoots with business lobbies, in destroying Gozo and making it a copy of Malta." DEMOCRATIC Party leader Godfrey Farrugia will be con- testing next May's MEP elec- tions. In a Facebook post uploaded yesterday, the PD announced it had asked Farrugia to con- test the election. The post was shared by Farrugia's partner and fellow PD MP Marlene Farrugia. "Following a discussion called by deputy leader Timothy Al- den, we, the undersigned MEP candidates and members of the executive of Partit Demokra- tiku, are requesting you, the leader of our party, to contest the upcoming MEP elections for the sake of our country," read the post. In his own Facebook post, up- loaded shortly after, Farrugia confirmed that he will be join- ing the party's three candidates Camilla Appelgren, Martin Cauchi Inglott and Anthony Buttigieg in the race for a seat at the European Parliament. Farrugia took over the leader- ship of the party from PD MEP candidate Anthony Buttigieg in October last year. Farrugia, a former Labour whip, was ap- pointed leader after he ran for the post of leader uncontested. "Partit Demokratiku's prior- ity remains an educated, out- ward looking, open European society where active participa- tion replaces exclusion," he had said at the time. Godfrey Farrugia to run for MEP AD: 'Hypocrite' MPs united on Gozo tunnel destruction