MALTA: Waste will be the biggest environmental hurdle to EU accession

“We have just received a draft study on waste management in Malta,” an EC official told edie. “Urban waste management will be the most difficult area.”

The EC undertook its pre-accession environmental screening process for Malta last autumn – assessing how Malta’s current environmental legislation and enforcement matches with the EU’s. A report on the screening is due this spring, following which the EC will produce its position outlining the environmental work Malta must undertake to accede to the EU. From there, negotiations will begin.

“We’re still at the beginning of the process,” stressed the EC official, “but the problem is urban waste management, and, of course, tourism is involved in this.”