The Opposition has proposed a law that would make meetings of the Environment and Resources Authority board public. 

Nationalist Party MP and environment spokesman Robert Cutajar presented a private member’s bill (see pdf link below) to that effect on Friday. 

The bill is proposing that the ERA’s meetings should be open to the public, that its minutes and agendas are public, and that the public and environmental organisations are given the opportunity to make their own representations to the board.

Those proposals mirror calls made by environmental NGOs in a statement earlier this month in which they asked the Environment Minister to sack ERA chairman Victor Axiak. 

Minister Aaron Farrugia replied to those calls by saying he had full faith in Axiak. 

Presenting the bill to the clerk of the House, Cutajar said the Opposition was sending a clear and strong message on how and where the Nationalist Party wanted to go in the environmental sector.

He added that the sole interest would be that of finding a balance between development and the environment while the people’s standard of living is given the attention and priority it deserves.

This was also done by safeguarding the environment for the sake of future generations, Cutajar said.