Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/426299
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 3 DECEMBER 2014 7 DANIEL MIZZI THE Malta Environment and Plan- ning Authority (MEPA) has denied claims by Nationalist MP Ryan Cal- lus that the planning application file (PA03103/12) pertaining to Patrick Dalli, to sanction illegalities on a Zej- tun farmhouse, had disappeared from the authority's website. "The authority can confirm that at no point did the application disappear online. The authority reassures the public that besides the digital planning application file which is available for the public to scrutinise, the authority simultaneously also keeps a hard copy of all the plans, documentation and minutes that pertain to the same file. The authority's digital system has an automatic daily backup to ensure that no data is ever lost." MEPA said that Callus, a MEPA board member, had all the facility to check and address his queries in the appropriate forum. In his claims yesterday that the file had disappeared, Callus called on civil liberties minister Helena Dalli to resign and "shoulder political respon- sibility" for the illegal works carried out on the property owned by her hus- band's firm. But Callus said he was sure Dalli would not resign. "Much like the prime minister, Helena Dalli's superi- or, did not resign when he said the new gas plant would not be ready within two years, I don't expect the minister to resign." Despite a number of enforcement notices on the pre-1967 farmhouse in Ramla Road, Zejtun, works on the site have been ongoing, and as no contract has yet been signed, the owners of the farmhouse remain Helena Dalli and her husband Patrick. The MP also said that Dalli should follow the example of former PN of- ficial Victor Scerri, whose permit for the development of a solitary house in Bahrija was controversial due to repeated negative recommendations being overturned by the former devel- opment control commission. Since resigning the PN and finalising his Bahrija property, Scerri is seeking a buyer for his €860,000 house. "Much like the Labour Opposition demanded Victor Scerri's resignation when he was not even an elected mem- ber, responsibility should be carried; in Scerri's case, he passed through the planning process and had received MEPA permits for his development in Bahrija." Callus also said that the planning file pertaining to the Zejtun villa owned by Pada Builders, was not even available on the MEPA website, and he went on to accuse the authority of defending Dalli. "When I clicked on Dalli's property in the MEPA website, there was no information available, so technically MEPA is breaking the law because it is not following the Aarhus Convention that gives people the right to access environmental information," Callus argued. That has now been denied by MEPA. "Consequently, the PN is asking the Ombudsman to investigate why this file has disappeared. MEPA's primary obligation is not to defend government ministers, its duty is to safeguard the public," the MP said. "I would understand if Joseph Mus- cat hid information to protect Helena Dalli or Manuel Mallia, but MEPA covering-up information to protect Helena Dalli is a scandal," he said. Addressing the media outside the MEPA offices in Floriana, Callus ar- gued that MEPA and the government are contradicting themselves. "Whereas Helena Dalli and her hus- band confirmed that works are be- ing carried out on the villa, MEPA is saying that no works were carried out since it served an enforcement notice. This is another cover-up, just like the one involving Manuel Mallia," the shadow minister said. Moreover, he said that according to the soon-to-be new owner, Jason De- sira, the promise of sale agreement was not published because of "Patrick Dalli's insistence." News Expression of Interest: Provision of Consultancy Services under the FUSION Programme The Malta Council for Science and Technology has issued an Expression of Interest for Service Providers for the provision of Consultancy Services under the FUSION Programme, in the following areas: IP Check; Market Research and Product Development Costing; Economic Impact and Risk Prole; Initial Patent Registration; Business Plan and the setting up and liaison for Investor Meetings. Applicants should have a proven track record and will be expected to work under their own initiative and in an iterative manner with the programme's beneciaries. The call closes on the 8th of December 2014. If selected, the agreement shall run for a period of one year. Visit http://mcst.gov.mt/news under the heading 'Call for Service Providers for FUSION' for further information. FUSION is supported through Malta Government funds and is managed by MCST. The Malta Council For Science And Technology, Villa Bighi, Kalkara KKR 1320, Malta www.mcst.gov.mt Nationalist MEPs' thumbs-down for anti- poverty report over abortion reference MATTHEW VELLA THREE Nationalist MEPs have voted against a European Parlia- ment report on the 'EU and the Global Development Framework after 2015', because of references to abortion. They joined a minority of MEPs who supported the report by Davor Ivo Stier, of the European Peoples' Party. David Casa, Roberta Metsola and Therese Comodini Cachia broke ranks with the EPP, by not sup- porting the report, along with 93 other MEPs from the right-wing European Conservatives, Europe of Freedom and Democracies, and non-aligned members. The vote was supported by practi- cally the entire EPP group, as well as socialists S&D, the Greens, and the United Green Left for a total of 541 votes in favour. "One of the more difficult votes I've had to take in the time I have served as MEP for Malta was the Stier report," Roberta Metsola told MaltaToday. "Unfortunately, the final version that was voted on by MEPs con- tained a late addition in the form of a 'rider clause' calling for access to abortion to be considered as a universal right in Paragraph 28 and Paragraph 58 of the report. This is an extremely sensitive issue and the position of the PN and myself has always been that the EU should not take positions on issues such as abortion. While the report got the required majority to be approved, I could not support the final version of the report." The Stier report strongly calls on the EU to confirm its lead in glo- bal development policies by taking a unified position at the December Council and to make significant progress in the path of eradicating poverty. "Despite the achievements of the Millennium Goals so far, the world is still facing a 'hunger scandal'. 1.5 billion people in the world are hungry. This is indeed scandalous, as pointed out by Pope Francis at today's plenary session, as there is enough food in the world for every- one but not enough justice for eve- ryone," Davor Ivo Stier said. The Global Development Frame- work after 2015 will replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) adopted by the United Na- tions (UN) in 2000 to fight world poverty through development. The EU is the largest donor of develop- ment aid. In 2013, the EU commit- ted almost €15 billion to external development assistance. Low in- come and the least developed coun- tries were the main recipients. Stier said that a strong, cohesive and unified EU position is needed in the upcoming inter-governmen- tal negotiations. "With this report, the European Parliament wants to contribute to the definition of a co- herent, unified and consistent EU position. In contrast to the Millen- nium Goals which were targeted at development countries, our wish is that the new Global Development Framework sets the goals for coun- tries all over the world, including the EU Member States." Various commitments in the Stier report include efforts to end world hunger, considering food as a basic human right, fighting discrimina- tion on any grounds including LG- BTI people, promoting the rights of disabled people, condemning sex- ual violence on women and girls, working to improve access to water, sanitation and hygiene, elimination of domestic violence, trafficking, sexual exploitation and sexual har- assment, ending child marriages, FGM and child labour. But the Nationalist MEPs were irked by the inclusion of abortion references, namely "the promotion of universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights" in Paragraph 28 and "the impor- tance of ensuring universal access to health services such as family planning, including sexual and re- productive health and rights" in Paragraph 58. MEPA denies MP's claims that Dalli file has disappeared