Here is the reply from Andrew Lewer (Conservative Spokesman for Culture, Education and Regional Development) about the concerns of the appointment of Karmenu Vella as commissioner-designate for the Environment, Maritime Affairs & Fisheries.
Still no reply from Labour?
Many
thanks for your email to Andrew Lewer MBE MEP regarding your opposition to the
appointment of Karmenu Vella as commissioner-designate for the Environment,
Maritime Affairs &
Fisheries.
During his opening comments
Mr Vella denied any involvement in bird hunting or trapping as well
as condemning any illegal hunting. He also explained that he was not here as a
Commissioner for Malta and that he expected each and every Member State to
implement all the directives. He stated that abuse of the Birds Directive,
Habitats Directive or any other directive would not be tolerated in any form and
reaffirmed that he was not there to defend Malta.
He
agreed that the Birds and Habitats Directives were the cornerstone to safeguard
European ecosystems and biodiversity but explained that the Birds Directive was
adopted 35 years ago and has not been reviewed since. Mr Vella later proposed an
‘in-depth
evaluation of the Birds and Habitats Directives’ aimed at maintaining and, where
necessary, improving the protection for our ecosystems and vulnerable
species.
He
reiterated his opposition to bird hunting when highlighting his past experience
as Minister for Tourism in Malta. He explained how tourism constitutes roughly
one third of the Maltese economy and that, as a consequence, it depended 100% on
the environment. He continued that, as the UK is the number one tourist market
in Malta and that the majority of complaints surrounding Maltese finch trapping
and bird hunting come from British citizens, when people talked to him about the
lack of controls they were “preaching to the converted”. He added that he would
not defend anyone with regard to violating any directives.
Andrew
himself does not sit on either of the committees involved in Mr Vella’s hearing
and so was unable to put a question to Mr Vella himself or approve or reject Mr
Vella’s candidacy as commissioner-designate. However, one of Andrew’s ECR
colleagues, Mark Demesmaeker, asked for clarification regarding Mr Vella’s
stance on the Birds and Habitats Directives and how poor Malta’s record is when
it comes to implementing the Directives. He received the following
response:
“With
regard to the Birds Directive, I will repeat again that, if we agree to review
them, obviously there is no idea to deregulate or to demote them. We are not
revising, but we are only reviewing. But again, we will have time to discuss
this in more detail.”
Other
ECR members raised their concerns surrounding Mr Vella’s policies on water
management, air pollution and reducing ammonia emissions.
The
ENVI coordinators overall conclusion was that the lack of reference to
sustainable development in the mission letter of Vice-President Katainen and to the full implementation of the objectives of
the 7th Environment Action Programme raised in the letter to
President-elect Juncker continued to raise concerns.
Although it provided some useful clarifications, the reply by the
President-elect was not considered fully satisfactory.
As
for Mr Vella’s adequacy for the position, the coordinators felt that
he had
the necessary professional and political experience to master the challenges the
position of a Member of the European Commission bring with
it.
In
spite of some lack of details in his replies, Mr Vella
demonstrated that he had a sufficient grasp of the main issues inherent in the
portfolio. He also committed to defending Community interest when dealing with
Member States. He showed the intention and need to familiarise himself more with
subjects falling within his remit as well as a positive attitude towards the
environmental agenda and readiness to cooperate with
Parliament.
The
general outcome of the hearing was that the Commissioner-designate gave a
positive impression of his aptitude to be a member of the College of
Commissioners and to carry out the specific tasks assigned to him. In this
context, however, coordinators expressed a strong recommendation that a higher
profile should be given to environmental sustainability in the work of the
future Commission by including this in the title and the portfolio of VP Katainen and that full implementation of the 7th
EAP shall be an explicit task in the mission of Commissioner-designate Vella. It
is crucial that a clear commitment be made on these matters prior to the plenary
vote.
I hope
this information clarifies the current situation and helps ease any fears you
may have surrounding Mr Vella’s appointment.
Regards,
Jack
Intern
to Andrew Lewer MBE MEP
Conservative
Spokesman for Culture, Education and Regional
Development
European
Parliament Brussels
WIB
05M067
