Pact members are accused of boycotting environmental bill

Balearic environment minister Margalida Rosselló yesterday accused her partners from the PSM (Majorcan Socialist Party) and UM (Majorcan Union) of trying to boycott the draft bill on biodiversity by presenting 126 amendments. The amendments substantially modify the text of the bill initially approved by the government and designed to afford the maximum protection to the environment. “These changes could have been presented before, not now,” she said, adding that all the parties talk about protecting the environment but in the end, they oppose the bill on biodiversity which will do just that. She said that the UM had presented 80 amendments and the PSM 46, and went on to claim that both parties, which form part of the ruling Progress Pact, are only trying to boycott the bill. She pointed out that the bill has been debated for more than two years, and both parties had had more than enough time to present their amendments. Rosselló belongs to Els Verds, the local Green party, and fellow party member Joan Buades accused the other two parties of launching “a nuclear missile” against the bill. He said the PSM was suffering an attack of jealousy and wanted to show that they are the most ecological party of the Pact, “but they are refusing to vote a bill which would put us on a European level in protection of the environment.” But UM deputy Miquel Nadal defended the amendments, saying “the UM does not question the concept of biodiversity, nor the bill, but we want to improve the text which the government approved. At all events we want the law to be approved in the future.” Buades and Nadal were involved in a bitter argument outside parliament, when Buades asked his colleague for explanations. The PSM said that it had reached agreement with the Greens about presenting amendments, but Buades said that it had been agreed the PSM would present 12 not 46 amendments. The Greens are now considering presenting amendments to the government's budgets.