Alternattiva Demokratika – The Green Party (AD) filed a judicial protest on Friday against parliamentarians. Each member of Parliament was put on notice that the approval of Motion No 245 on the Partial Revision of the Structure Plan would be beyond the legal authority of the Maltese parliament. Also, it says members of Parliament cannot not plead parliamentary immunity when they are sued for damages by the hundreds of persons who will suffer damages.
AD’s Chiarperson Dr Harry Vassallo said that the clear, deliberate violation of the SEA Directive which is binding on Malta as a consequence of our membership of the European Union is an illegal act. Members of parliament are not elected to break the law and when they do so they act in a private capacity, not as members of parliament. Consequently they will not be able to hide behind parliamentary immunity if they are sued for damages by the hundreds of people who will suffer the consequences of this violation of the law.
“The vast amendment to the planning zones being proposed clearly demands the close scrutiny of a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) under the EU Directive,” Dr Vassallo said. “The government’s claim that this revision is part of a process started many years ago and therefore not subject to the SEA Directive is completely false. It will not stand up to scrutiny in any court of law, Dr Vassallo added.
“It is not fair that members of parliament should hide behind parliamentary immunity when they knowingly break the law and put many hundreds of families with their backs to the wall obliged to prove the government and parliament wrong, Dr Vassallo said.
According to Dr Vassallo, hundreds of properties will be devalued unnecessarily and illegally, hundreds of families will be obliged to sue to invalidate the proposed amendment to the structure plan, many more may be cheated of tens of thousands of liri if they buy properties in the newly extended zones only to find that they cannot develop them. “These vast financial damages should not be paid out of tax money but out of the private funds of those members of parliament who knowingly break the law,” Dr Vassallo said.
“It is reasonable and prudent for members of parliament to refuse to approve the motion now before parliament not only to avoid the astronomic personal liability to which they may become exposed but also to ensure that any such extension to the planning zones is carried out according to the legal planning process which is a safeguard for all citizens and for future generations,” Dr Vassallo said.
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