All glitter, no gold

Labour’s pledges in the run-up to the elections are noble. Its declared ideals are lofty. But the reality of its governance is appalling.

How far Labour has gone to accommodate the demands of those who fund its campaign. How readily the Prime Minister and his Cabinet have traded in the nation’s assets and heritage to satisfy the greed of their mega-developer friends.

Now, Prime Minister Robert Abela has conjured up a new metric for calculating the impact of his electoral proposals on the people’s quality of life.

Labour has done its own calculations based on a ridiculous, made up scale. And Labour has determined that its electoral promises will improve our quality of life by 25%. Have you ever heard such utter nonsense?

While Labour pats itself on the back and Robert Abela boasts about improving our well being by a quarter, the stark reality points in the complete opposite direction.

In one week alone, we had several examples of the massive chasm between Abela’s fanciful pre-election promises and the reality on the ground.

Robert Abela’s Planning Authority (PA) gave its final approval for the development of a 22-apartment block and 20 basement garages within the buffer zone of Ġgantija Temple – a world heritage site.

The Environmental and Planning Review Tribubnal (EPRT) rejected appeals filed by heritage organisations against plans to demolish the British era barracks at Fort Chambray, paving the way for the destruction of another precious piece of our historical heritage.

That same EPRT had previously approved a permit for a hotel, 16 villas and 44 swimming pools to be developed on Comino.

In a humiliating ruling for Abela’s EPRT, that same week the court ruled that the decision of the EPRT should be revoked. The court found that the EPRT had failed to distinguish between legal and illegal development when establishing the baseline for the Comino project.

Mr Justice Simiana slammed Abela’s puppet EPRT, noting that treating illegal and legal structures in the same way is simply absurd, particularly in a protected Natura 2000 site like Comino.

Moviment Graffitti and several other environmental NGOs had based their appeal against the Comino development on 11 grievances.

They included the fact that the project violated local plans and rural policies. They raised concerns about the development’s environmental impact and the resulting loss of habitat.

Yet Abela’s EPRT dismissed all the objections and simply upheld the PA’s original approval. Not even the 44 massive swimming pools and the two new jetties in that obscene Comino plan raised the EPRT’s concerns.

But now, in the midst of an election campaign, the courts have burst Robert Abela’s bubble of wellbeing and quality of life. The court ruling has exposed the grimy machinations within Labour’s hollow institutions which seek to protect the interests of property moguls and mega-developers at the expense of the public interest.

That court decision reveals that civil society and NGOs have to battle constantly against a powerful party in government to protect the nation’s heritage. Whether it’s the natural heritage on Comino or the historical heritage at Fort Chambray and Ġgantija, Labour and its leader Robert Abela are always striving to destroy it.

Labour’s planning authority shamelessly voted 10 to 1 in favour of the proposal for a massive development within the buffer zone of Ġgantija.

The PA had already previously approved the controversial application – PA/00670/21 – almost 3 years ago. But that permit was revoked, after another appeal filed by NGOs, at least until a heritage impact assessment (HIA) by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage was conducted.

The Superintendent of Cultural Heritage’s HIA conceded that the massive development would “remain dominant in the streetscape” with its facade remaining as a “single homogenous mass”.

Despite these massive red flags, the Superintendent concluded that the impact of the development was “not significant”, paving the way for those 22 apartments and 20 basement garages to bury the UNESCO World Heritage site.

What is the point of having a buffer zone around such precious sites when Labour simply steam rollers over everybody to ensure the developer gets to build his block of flats?

If you had any doubt who was behind it all, the Prime Minister came out defending the approval of that obscene project.

“The development will not prejudice this historic site” Abela insisted. Yet no details on the designs of the development were released.

How does Abela know that the massive development in the buffer zone won’t prejudice the UNESCO world heritage site?

Abela is all glitter and no gold. He’s great at talking, but terrible at taking action.

“What belongs to the people must be strongly protected” he declared. But then there he is, in the very thick of it – fighting the developers’ corner, battling against his own people, determined to protect the pockets of his friends and colleagues, the developers, by ensuring their projects get the green light.

Abela will always be there, ready to prioritise commercial gain for his party’s friends. And if it takes wrecking a historical architectural gem, Abela doesn’t really care.

If all of Europe’s eyes are focused on Chambray, Abela isn’t remotely embarrassed.

If Ġgantija, one of the oldest temples in the world, is put at risk with another idiotic development in its buffer zone, out comes Robert Abela to defend it – the development that is, not the temple.

Why? Because he wants to show his friends they will always have his backing, especially on the eve of these general elections.

When it comes to choosing between protecting a 5,000 year old wonder and enabling his friends to make a quick buck, Abela doesn’t think twice.