Government centralisation and the fact ministers are exercising excessive control were fuelling clientelism, leaving councils unable to function properly, ADPD said on Saturday. 

Green Party leader Sandra Gauci accused ministers of exercising excessive control.

“Local councils are not social ‘każini’, nor clubs. The time has come for ministers and the government to stop undermining them,” she said.

ADPD was holding a news conference in Attard ahead of the European and local elections. 

Gauci urged people to use their vote wisely and to steer away from the two main parties whose leaders are focused on perpetuating rivalry.

She urged people to vote for the Green Party which is ready to face local, European and world challenges and recognises the climate crisis as an opportunity.

Hundreds of people in Malta die each year because of poor air quality. Renewable energy is a worthwhile investment in eliminating fossil fuels that “harm the environment, and suffocate and kill us”.

ADPD will not shy away from pedestrianising town and village cores.

The Green Party would seek a strategy that rewards those that choose to move around by bicycle or pedelecs.

There is a need for a unified network she argued, saying EU funding must support such projects and not flyovers which lead to more cars, pollution and illness.

The Central Link, as predicted by ADPD, increased both traffic and pollution she added.

Another factor affecting air quality in Attard, she said, was the Wied Icita quarry with mountains of unacceptable loose dust in the air.

The time has also come for a professional plan to plant trees along urban roads offering a better environment.