Abela admits planning reform went beyond what it should have been, working on ‘convergence’
Prime Minister Robert Abela admitted on Sunday that a controversial planning bill that the government proposed last summer had gone beyond what it should have been, saying that there were certain parts of it which should be removed.
Abela was speaking in wide-ranging interview with Lovin Malta’s Yannick Pace on Sunday, where he said that the government was now working to reach a state of “convergence” on the main elements of the Bill.
Abela spoke about the government’s controversial planning reforms, saying that while the reform is “as necessary as bread”, there are parts of the initially proposed bill which he thinks should be axed.
“This reform, with the good and bad – there are parts which I think should be removed – is an interim solution so that anyone who is objecting or developing has a form of stability for what they are working with,” Abela said.
He ran through the proposals, starting with what he felt was least controversial: the sanctioning or regularising of agricultural rooms in fields, wherein people will be allowed to legalise such structures against a “reasonable payment” to ensure that they are legal.
The same provision will be made for extensions to residences which were done before 1994.
The initial proposal also included a provision that would allow for the sanctioning of industrial plants built with no permit whatsoever against a fine, but Abela said that people were right to be disappointed by this and added that it needs to be removed.
Bill 143 – which addresses how planning laws and entities actually function – was the one which created the most controversy, and Abela admitted “it went beyond what it should have.”
So far, he said, there is no convergence on elements of it, but the Prime Minister said that they are “working on it.” “There won’t be absolute convergence, but we want to cut out the elements that the country can live without,” he said.
Abela did not give a timeframe on when the new reform might be published but said that the government was not aiming to favour one sector over another with its reform: the aim was, he said, to give a clear legal framework on how things should be done.
Asked what would happen if there is no convergence, Abela said it was not his intention to “streamroll” over anyone and that he firmly believes there are points where convergence can be reached.
Ta’ Qali grass won’t be growing back any time soon
Asked about the gravel debacle at Ta’ Qali, Abela said that he has personally intervened on the matter and admitted that while the Ta’ Qali project as a whole was “fantastic”, this was an area where the government could have done better.
His tone contrasted with that of Jason Micallef, who leads the entity responsible for works at Ta’ Qali, who has cried ‘fake news’ at anyone who dares criticise the works and threatened to take an influencer to court for libel over a video she made showing the lack of grass in the popular picnic area.
Abela said that a local expert has been engaged to handle the area, and admitted that people should not expect grass to show in the short-term. He said that works will go on to improve the area, and the gravel will stay there, but grass will eventually grow.
With regards to Manoel Island, Abela said that talks with MIDI are progressing well, while with regards to White Rocks there is a legal process ongoing to close the currently open tender for the area.
He said that there are areas in both White Rocks and Manoel Island which, after a good cleanup, can be opened to the public. With regards to Fort Campbell, the area needs big investment, Abela said.
As for Fort Tigne, Abela referred to a statement by the PN that the government should have bought the Fort earlier as “populist”, saying that it was true that the Fort was offered to it by MIDI – but that this was part of a larger package which would have included allowing development at Manoel Island and including additional development concessions at Tigne.
New legislation on Cabinet asset declarations being finalised
With regards to legislation on the asset declarations which Ministers are supposed to file – something which Abela’s Cabinet has not done, earning a rebuke from the Standards Commissioner this week – Abela said that new legislation on this was being finalised.
The new legislation will bring the asset declaration process into one process – there were two different forms to be filled before, with a distinction between MPs and members of Cabinet.
“I want to increase transparency and eliminate conflicts of interests,” Abela said, as he referred to instances where PN MPs had used their political role to help private clients, particularly in tendering processes.
He also called the accounts published by the Nationalist Party as an “exercise in illusion” and said that they’d have been better off not publishing the accounts at all. “They are so ashamed of their debt that they are trying to hide it,” Abela said.
He would not, however, be drawn into giving his impressions of new PN leader Alex Borg: “that’s a judgment the people need to make,” he said.
On the topic of elections, Abela was once again asked whether he would call an early election, to which he replied that there is still a lot of his party’s electoral manifesto that needs to be done.
The Prime Minister, however, did not close the door completely.
“My mind is on regenerating Grand Harbour, launching Malta Vision 2025, having another Budget – but there are circumstances – even internationally – where the situation may change,” he said.
“The national interest has to determine when [election day] is,” he added.
First Time buyer scheme eligibility to be widened
Abela was asked at length about the affordability of Malta’s property market, and he disagreed with the assertion that people are being allowed to fall back. He said that 81% of Maltese are home owners and the home ownership of those aged under 35 years stands at 90% – far above than the EU average, which Abela said stands at 40%.
He said that the government was going to widen the eligibility for the First Time Buyer’s Scheme even more by removing one of the criteria upon which people were excluded. Right now, he said, anybody who has purchased a garage or a field would not be able to take advantage of the scheme to purchase a residence. This criteria, he said, will be removed.
On a question on what the government will do when home ownership rates start to drop, particularly as families who have developed their own plots to have apartments for their children will lessen, Abela said that there is a “reality” today where youths are investing in a second property in order to rent out.
He debated the notion that property in the past was affordable, questioning whether the relativity between property prices and what households get as income and from government schemes has changed when compared to 20 years ago.
Abela ‘worried’ about US ambitions on Greenland
As for the international sector, Abela admitted that it was worrying that the US may try to take over Greenland as it would be the first time that the territory of a European Union country is touched.
He said that he had heard what US President Donald Trump, his Vice-President JD Vance, and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said and noted that while they were making certain intentions, they also used “measured stances.”
“It is worrying,” Abela, however, said. “Diplomacy needs to play a crucial role,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly said that Greenland is essential for the US for national security reasons, and recently said that the US will take the territory “the easy way or the hard way.”
An act of armed aggression against an EU nation would mean that all other EU nations are obliged to provide “aid and assistance by all the means in their power” in response, and an attack against Denmark specifically would trigger NATO’s collective defence clause, being that the Scandinavian country is part of the bloc.
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