James Debono’s piece on the Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) Directive provided the very welcome news that the EU Commission is looking into the so-called rationalisation exercise for extension of the development zones. The first impression seems to be that the exercise is in breach of the SEA Directive.
At the time the rationalisation was proposed, ministers tried to sell the exercise as one which would severely curtail attempts to move outside the new development zones. In fact there has been a veritable avalanche of O(new)DZ applications, most of which have sailed smoothly through MEPA waters. The government tactic is now to firmly, even “heroically”, close the stable door when the horse is disappearing over the horizon, calling the process “giving power to the people”. Witness some of the recent provisions a few days after that marvelous villa and swimming pool – inside or outside the Xaghra Circle buffer zone – was granted a permit by MEPA, with the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, feebly bleating in the background, as its short-lived presence on the MEPA board was brought to an untimely end by the dissolution of Parliament. And witness the long account of the finer points of the SEA Directive in the last four or five issues of the “One World” MEPA box in The Times – an excellent example of the devil quoting scripture.
In fact three environmental NGO’s have presented a court case against MEPA over the “rationalisation”. At the first hearing last October, my right to represent FoE(Malta) was contested by MEPA, merely as a blocking tactic. The case was deferred to last January.
At 10.15 am on Wednesday, 23 January, the court reconvened under Judge Farrugia Sacco. Alas, two of the three members of the SEA team could not be found—this despite the fact that one is a well known lawyer who resigned from the Committee as soon as the case was presented; and the other occupies an important position in the Ministry of Education. So court notifications could not be delivered. A plea for “differiment b’urgenza” was met by a long jeremiad from the judge, outlining in detail his exponentially increasing case load, his view that every man and his dog considered their case to be “urgent”, and his disinterest in the fact that with every passing day more permits were being issued in the new development zones. The upshot: a deferment to June, to smirks of satisfaction from the MEPA lawyers.
Did anybody once say that justice delayed is justice denied?

E.A.Mallia
Attard

Mr Eddy Privitera, a well-known mouthpiece of the MLP chose to comment on increases in prices based, not on facts, but rather on speculation in the form of questions regarding doctors’ fees.
It is quite ironic that he would focus on doctors’ fees rather than say, the price of fresh fruit or vegetables.
He goes on to predict an explosion of prices on April 1, a theme often repeated by the Malta Labour Party, and, furthermore, steeper adjustments after July ‘as what has happened in all eurozone countries’. The assumption is, I take it, that all those countries where price increases took place, are run by incompetent governments since they were unable to rein in the increases!
He goes further saying that he does not expect Malta to be an exception but hoping that a Labour government would manage to do just that. What he does not tell us is how a Labour administration is going to clamp down on price increases. Bulk buying, perhaps? The reintroduction of monopolies? Banning Mars chocolate and other imports?
How does he explain that Tal-Lira stores have been advertising a reduction in their prices – €2.00 = 86c as opposed to Lm1.00 = €2.33?
In a truly open economy, the prices will find their own levels and it is competition that will regulate. No government intervention can be as efficient as marketplace competition.
Dream on Mr Privitera.

Joe Martinelli
London, Ontario,
Canada

There is no doubt that prices will rise with the introduction of the Euro, and yes, services most of all. Every businessman will be tempted to raise prices to the nearest Euro, some to the nearest 5 Euros. This happened practically everywhere in Europe.
Just a few examples. In Germany, items which once could be bought with 3 Deutsche Marks now cos €3 (almost 10DM). That’s a whacking increase, isn’t it?
Same thing in France. The Euro had a value of 5,54 Francs on introduction and, guess what, bread, for example, that used to cost 4.4 FR now is costing €4 circa. In Italy, a Euro was almost 2,000 Lire. However, partly because of speculation and partly because of confusion, what used to cost 1,000 Lire is now costing €1. In some cases it is even worse. I remember buying a coffee for 1,000 lire at the bar, and now it costs €1,50.
The same thing will happen to Malta if the necessary controls are not effected. I sincerely hope that the Price Control Unit (if it still exists) will do its best to keep speculation at bay and to control the situation.

Josette Camilleri
Italy

Before people get it into their head that after all the Nationalist Party might deserve some more time in government I feel that it is worthwhile to highlight one of the major blights of the Nationalist Party in government. I refer to the Mater Dei situation/fiasco.
In September 1992 the then Prim Minister Dr Edward Fenech Adami stated that work on the Tal-Qroqq Hospital was to start soon. Now the word “soon” is defined as “within a short period after this or that time, event, etc…” or “before long; in the near future, at an early date”. Both descriptions of the word soon cannot, I believe be taken to mean September 1995!
Fast forward to November 1999 and the Minister for Health declares that the Government’s aim is for the Hospital to be open in 2003. Just in case we get our words all mixed up, open in this context is defined as being “ready for or carrying normal trade or business”. I suppose other comments are superfluous knowing as we all do that the Hospital started to function towards the end of last year.
Now we have the added insult of finding out that notwithstanding that the hospital took seventeen years in the making, the staff situation is in a mess. Needless to say it is wrong to generalise and I will not, but surely to have people sitting on the floor in the outpatients area must be wrong. As must be wrong for appointments for certain operations to be slated for two years’ time.
I cannot point a finger at any of the staff at Mater Dei who are trying to do their best in the sorry situation the government has left them. I have had to spend a few days at Mater Dei myself and can attest to the seriousness, care and bedside manners of the staff from top to bottom. No complaints.
However the complete lack of planning on the part of the government in the whole matter of the Mater Dei hospital has now reached unbelievable proportions. Not only was the hospital finished way beyond its time-frame and way beyond budget but now we discover that the whole system has gone hay-wire!
The beauty of this all is that the government does not even bother to issue any statements in its defence other than what a wonderful hospital we now have. Not enough!

Simon Micallef Stafrace
Valletta

With reference to the letter appearing in MaltaToday Midweek, 30 January, 2008, ‘Threats won’t shut me up’, we would like to clarify that any reference to a telephone conversation held between parliamentary secretary Tonio Fenech and presenter Brian Hansford is the interpretation of events as communicated by the correspondent Jo Said.