Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/860911
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 13 AUGUST 2017 News 5 MIRIAM DALLI IN a bid to introduce more de- cent working hours at parliament, the Labour Party's parliamentary group has agreed to a decision under which plenary sessions are pushed forward by two hours, when the House of Representa- tives would start meeting at 4pm, instead of 6pm. The earlier working hours are al- so in reply to repeated calls by vari- ous members of parliament, who argue that the late hours make it harder for MPs with small chil- dren. It also aims to help attract more female candidates, where Malta faces a huge deficit. The Labour parliamentary group's decision was confirmed by government whip Byron Camill- eri, which he explained was in line with the procedural motion ap- proved by parliament just before it rose for the summer recess. "The Labour parliamentary group has also agreed to forward the proposal to the opposition, once the new PN leader is elected," Camilleri said. But viewers at home will still be able to follow more crucial debates, such as the Budget speech and the replies by the Leader of the Oppo- sition and the Prime Minister – or any other business agreed to by the House – which will be held at 6pm, or any other time agreed on. For years, plenary sessions were mostly held on Mondays, Tues- days and Wednesdays, from 6 to 9.30pm. As Clerk of the House Ray Sci- cluna explained to MaltaToday, a motion presented by the govern- ment just before the summer break allows it to convene parliament on these "normal days" from 2pm. "Following calls from both sides of the House and from parliamen- tary staff for more family-friendly hours for parliamentary plenary meetings, it is hoped that an agree- ment to convene parliament at this hour will be reached," Scicluna had told MaltaToday. Following internal discussions, the PL parliamentary group de- cided to go for 4pm. Meeting at an earlier hour will also mean decent hours for ex- perts called in to assist Cabinet members during debates and the parliamentary staff. Changes to the hours are long- overdue: former and current MPs have argued in favour of this change with the request inten- sifying as the country's political parties struggle to attract women candidates: only 42 of this year's candidates were women, who out of a total of 377 candidates, put the female percentage at a poor 11%. Both former MP Deborah Schembri and PN MP Kristy Debono have spoken against the current ill-devised working hours. "It would be quite frivolous if we impose quotas to help women get elected, only to face the current obstacles politicians encounter in our daily life as MPs. I would rath- er impose a more family-friendly environment and include better hours and a support system. A bet- ter structure would attract more quality candidates, irrespective of their gender." Earlier parliament hours expected from October CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Additionally, 87% of all waste is gong to a landfill while just 8% is being recycled. "The scenario is pretty chal- lenging," a government source with knowledge of the minis- ters' plans told MaltaToday. "The most favoured option to manage waste is always going to be getting people to actually reduce their waste, yet Malta has one of the highest waste generation figures. There are limits to landfilling, which takes up space – the Cabinet has been told that Malta is simply too small to continue the landfilling process." Additionally, a heightened construction industry, which is now ever more focussed on more high-rise developments across the island, is finding it even harder to dispose of construction waste, the same source said. "Again, this is the dilemma posed by this kind of growth. The rate of economic develop- ment is also producing a waste problem that is going to have to be tackled faster than we thought before." Malta is the EU country that has the highest rate of landfill- ing, with Maghtab having been for decades used as a disposal area for the incineration of waste before being turned into an engineered landfill. Indeed, only 0.4% of waste in Malta is now incinerated, while some 3.6% is treated by composting. In the rest of Europe however, on average landfilling, incinera- tion and recycling are equally used for the disposal of waste. Switzerland, Germany, Slovenia and Austria are the top coun- tries which recycle practically half their waste, if not more. In the main however, these countries also tend to incin- erate half of their generated waste: Switzerland, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Aus- tria, Estonia and Finland practi- cally incinerate half their waste. The trend is confirmed by Eurostat data that shows that landfills have been used less than ever before since 1995, with the percentage of munici- pal waste being landfilled fall- ing by almost 60% over the last two decades. "Incineration could be a solu- tion," the same expert told this newspaper. "It is both fast and perhaps cheaper than other so- lutions. The practice of other EU member states shows that a proper standard of waste in- cineration that is environmen- tally suitable is possible." Malta has struggled with ef- forts at curbing waste genera- tion, with former environment minister Leo Brincat having mooted reducing waste collec- tion days in a bid to encourage domestic users to produce less waste. While the collection of sepa- rated dry recyclable waste at bring-in sites was consider- ably lower in 2015 than what was collected back in 2011, the collection of recycling waste in grey bags outside houses has been increasing every year since 2010 – an indication that more households are endors- ing the practice of separating recyclable waste. In 2015 alone the grey bag collection stood at 14,000 tonnes in Malta, and just over 970 tonnes in Gozo. But municipal waste gener- ated in 2015 amounted to over 269,000 tonnes, an increase of 5.5% in Malta and just a 1% de- cline for Gozo over the previ- ous year. mvella@mediatoday.com.mt FOLLOWING Standard and Poor's credit rating upgrade in October of last year, Fitch has now upgraded Malta's sovereign credit rating from A to A+ with a stable outlook. In a statement, finance minister Edward Scicluna said the upgrade reflected the progress of the last four years on various priority sectors, in particular the consoli- dation in public finances. The credit rating institution defines one of the main contributors to this upgrade as the 'fast declining gross general govern- ment debt' which is expected to 'decrease to 50% of GDP in 2019...supported by strong nominal GDP growth and recurrent primary surpluses.' Fitch added that it also expects government-guaranteed liabilities to decline in the coming years. Another main driver contributing to the upgrade was the positive turnaround in the fiscal balance, where the government suc- cessfully turned years of fiscal deficits into a fiscal surplus last year. Fitch expects Mal- ta to continue achieving a fiscal surplus in the coming years, which, it added, reflects the government's efforts to improve tax collection and tax revenue; reduce unnec- essary expenditure on social benefits and ease pension pressures; and support higher robust economic growth. Fitch said it expects the Maltese economy to continue growing at a faster pace than that of similarly rated countries, fueled by the solid performance of Maltese exports, notably in the services sector, a dynamic la- bour market, and investment. The latter is expected to pick up in 2019, boosted by the gradual absorption of new EU funds and the launching of large transport, health, and education projects. Malta's rating upgrade also reflected Malta's large net external creditor position. Fitch expects Malta's external position to remain strong, where the current account surplus is expected to increase to well over 7 per cent in the 2017-2019 period. Scicluna said the government's vision for Malta was turning into reality. "Malta is be- coming a solid top performer in economic growth, employment growth, and sound public finances. All this is being confirmed by the rating agencies." Incineration could be alternative to landfill Malta gets A+ upgrade from Fitch