Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1456293
3 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 2 MARCH 2022 NEWS ELECTION 2022 ADPD chairperson Carmel Ca- copardo, in a letter to the Broad- casting Authority, has com- plained that the Green Party has not been scheduled to debate the major parties. He said this was a lacuna that needed to be remedied with de- bates with both the PN and the PL. "The political broadcast sched- ule for Election 2022 proposed by the Broadcasting Authori- ty ignores the fact that the PN and the PL have their own radio and TV stations. This should be taken in consideration in the allocation of the broadcasts to ADPD. If this is not, then ADPD will continue to suffer from the imbalance in airtime allocated to ADPD even during the electoral campaign." Airtime allocated to ADPD is already very limited – the party is not represented in parliament. ADPD called for number of measures to address the im- balance created by the fact that PLPN own their own stations. "ADPD is therefore requesting the Broadcast Authority that any of the party's spokesperson can represent it in these broadcasts; more flexibility in the use of the allocated airtime; increase in the airtime for advertising spots; more airtime on PBS; that AD- PD advertising spots are broad- cast on ONE and NET; that it also features in programmes on ONE and NET," Cacopardo said. ADPD wants fair treatment on 2022 broadcasts MATTHEW VELLA INDEPENDENT candidate Arnold Cassola has accused Labour of proposing legal changes that will weaken environmental protection. Cassola said it was shameful that environment minister Aaron Farrugia was using the Environ- ment and Resources Authority (ERA) to propose changes to the regulations which will weaken the system of daily fines for offences against the Environment Protection Act. The Labour government proposing to remove the possibility of an offender being fined multi- ple times if the offender breaches the regulations and harms the environment numerous times. "Incredibly, in the case of concurrent offences which are subject to separate daily fines for dif- ferent offences, the offender is to be subject only to the highest daily penalty applicable at any one time," Cassola said. The proposal is intended to replace the present regulations which provide that in case of concur- rent offences, the person shall be subject to sep- arate daily penalties that shall accrue separately until all offences are addressed to ERA's satisfac- tion. "Farrugia is weakening the system of fines for offences against the environment and has re- duced ERA to the government's lapdog instead of the guardian of our environment. Apart from that, the Labour government will be introducing the possibility to petition to an Environment and Planning Review Tribunal, to accede to such pe- titions in part or in whole. "Our country's experience of the use of review boards and tribunals has never been a happy one and this proposal, made by a minister with very little credibility in effective environmental en- forcement, raises suspicion that another mech- anism is being created to allow environmental offenders to get away scot-free." Cassola calls out Labour greenwash on fines reform KARL AZZOPARDI PRIME Minister Robert Abela said the Nationalist Party had fuelled rumours on a possible election date to stagnate the country and its economy. "Every few months they came up with a new date, and their sole aim was to cripple the country's economy and cre- ate uncertainty among businesses," Ab- ela said. The PM was speaking during a polit- ical event held in Mosta on Tuesday evening. "The establishment even said the Budget would not be carried out, then they said we would not implement it. It is always the same aim - to destabilise the country," he said. He said the PN had predicted an eco- nomic shutdown when the country was greylisted by the FATF last summer. "Instead of companies leaving, more came. We now have the largest foreign investment in the country's history. When you are united, and decisive, you can only be successful," he told sup- porters. He said investment in 2021 grew by 20%, with the country registering the lowest unemployment figures ever re- corded. "Don't let them scare you." On the pandemic, Abela said despite predictions by experts and foreign bod- ies, the government did not lose its will to work. "I told my team that we should not stop working despite the predic- tions, and recent months have shown that our work has paid off." "We had a 9.2% growth in our GDP during the last 20 months. This shows our proposals are built on a solid base," Abela said. He also made reference to the PN's €1 billion pledge to create 10 new econom- ic sectors. "We already opened a num- ber of these sectors, and I was personal- ly present to inaugurate them." Ian Borg takes umbrage at Bernard Grech snipe on PL headquarters Addressing supporters, Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg made reference to Bernard Grech's sarcastic comment to ONE News that he will be turning the PL's headquarters in Hamrun into ODZ land. He was replying to questions put for- ward by ONE News journalists on a PN pledge to increase ODZ areas in the country. "Bernard Grech said he wants to tear down our party headquarters and turn it to ODZ," Borg said. "Don't you even joke about it, you will find us Labourites there to protect our home." He also said one cannot help but draw a comparison between Robert Abela's and former PM Lawrence Gonzi's gov- ernments in "how an international cri- sis should be handled." "Nearly half of Bernard Grech's candi- dates were part of the Lawrence Gonzi administration. It is relevant to com- pare because if we do not carry out our job properly, we could be faced by the same government," he said. He also spoke about infrastructural work carried out in Mosta. "They don't like me a lot, but what they can't say is that work was only car- ried out in the district I will be contest- ing on." PN fuelled election rumours to destabilise Malta - Robert Abela Robert Abela