Wide support for Aaron Farrugia’s transparency register announcement
Multiple associations and NGOs have said that they are in favour of Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Planning Aaron Farrugia’s announcement of a transparency register.
Farrugia, previously Parliamentary Secretary for EU Funds, was promoted to Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Planning by Prime Minister Robert Abela, with the goal of bringing the environment and planning back within the remit of a single ministry.
On Friday, Environment Minister Farrugia revealed that he would start publishing a register of all his meetings with stakeholders in a move aimed at promoting transparency and good governance.
“This Transparency Register is in line with the 2017 Labour Party Electoral Manifesto, the European Commission’s 2016 proposal for a European Transparency Register, as well as the best practices learned from other Member States of the European Union,” he said.
President of the Federation of Maltese Aquaculture Producers (FMAP) Charlon Gouder pointed out that Malta is one of the few countries in the EU that does not have any law, code of ethics or register for lobbyists that show any interest in public decisions. With this in mind, FMAP more than welcomes this measure as “it is due time that Malta introduces a law, a transparent register and a code of ethics which regulates any activity of lobbying groups and lobbyists.”
While all meetings will be logged, the move is most crucial when it comes to the planning sector, which remains controversial in Malta, with politicians often accused of giving in to pressure by developers or of acting in the interest of the construction lobby.
Environment and heritage NGO Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) issued a statement yesterday, saying that it respects Farrugia’s motion and “augurs that this new spirit of transparency will also be adopted by the Planning Authority (PA), where the disproportionate influence of the development lobby has led to the issuing of abusive permits and damaging policies that remain in force to this day.” They explained that since May 2019 the PA has been violating the EU Directive on the Public Right of Access to Environmental Information (Aarhus Convention) after it restricted public access to planning applications.
The government’s closeness with developers dates back to before 2013, during the time of the infamous fourth floor.
The Labour Party had been harshly criticised over these meetings and Anglu Farrugia, now Speaker of the House, had infamously revealed how contractors and other people from ‘ big business’ would hold meetings with party officials. He was asked about the meetings when testifying in the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry and said that Keith Schembri had access to that floor, which needed a special code to enter.
President of the Malta Developers Association (MDA) Sandro Chetcuti was indicated in the inquiry by Farrugia as being one of the people who had access to the infamous ‘fourth floor’ meetings, held in Ħamrun before the 2013 election. However, Chetcuti insisted that he had never gone up to the fourth floor before the 2013 election and that he had never attended any meetings there.
When asked by The Malta Independent for his opinion on this new transparency measure, Chetcuti said that the MDA did not object to this procedure and suggested that minutes of such meetings also be kept.
Prof. Alex Torpiano, President of Din l-Art Ħelwa, was also contacted about this initiative, which he described as a very important step that should be taken “in all ministries so that there is a record of lobbyists that approach ministers.”
This newsroom asked Prime Minister Robert Abela if there were such plans for this transparency measure to be introduced across all ministries.
“The important thing is that it has been introduced in the most sensitive of ministries, where you have to meet with different stakeholders but, yes, one has to consider further measures. I am always in favour of measures that result in more transparency within our country,” he said.