EU presidency is a ‘nightmare for Valletta residents’ – local council

The European Union presidency is turning into a nightmare for Valletta residents who need to access their homes, the Valletta local council said yesterday.

It said it has held several meetings with the Presidency Team in order to limit the negative effects of the Presidency on the residents of the city, and this led to a number of measures such as the increase in residential parking areas and better enforcement.

However, the effect of these measures are all being neutralised by the aggressive way certain roads are being turned into no-parking zones. Long stretches of roads including parts of the ring road (away from the meeting venues) are being cleared.

“Whilst we do understand that there might be security concerns, we’ve all been to other European countries in particular Brussels where the European leaders work every day but we’ve never seen such an aggressive clearance policy.”

Worst of all, the authorities are not being sensitive to the needs of the residents, the council said. If they really must remove the parking spaces, at least they should do their utmost to reduce the inconvenience caused to residents. Having a clearance (far away from the meeting venue) which starts at 5am and finishes at 11pm makes no sense when the meetings will start hours later and probably finish much before.

“So what shall we expect from the residents? To leave their home before 5am and after a day’s work, stay in the car till 11pm to park? Get them to park outside of Valletta as some are doing? We think the situation is utterly ridiculous,” the council said.

“Thus, we are appealing to the relevant authorities to be sensitive to the needs of people. Clearance should be reduced to an absolute minimum and the time should be restricted as well. Having a clearance just in case a VIP passes is not on and simply helps to anger the residents who have a sacred right to access their premises, the council said.

“The EU presidency is an opportunity for EU leaders to open their ears and listen to their citizens. So dear EU leaders this is what the citizens are saying: “Respect Valletta residents please!”