Reference is made to the article carried on the front page of MaltaToday dated 24 February, insofar as the said article relates to our Group and to various innuendos created by the local media on the said issue.
Firstly, with reference to the title of the article directly associating of our group with alleged “criminal suspects”, our group is of the view that this is dishonest, undignified and damaging journalism, and we reserve our position at law against its authors and MaltaToday for damages suffered.
With reference to the particular issues dealt with in the article, although still sub judice and being strongly contested by our group in court, we still feel that the following clarifications are in order:

Indebtedness of our group with Malta Enterprise
This is an issue which has been pending with Malta Enterprise since our group took over the Grand Hotel Verdala, following the issue of a public offer which closed 18 March 1994.
A subsidiary of our group had taken over the property and its operation, and retained all its employees prior to contract of sale with the government, in spite of the fact that the hotel was running at a great loss, in the comfort that assurances given by the Government that the necessary planning permits would be issued within months. As of today our group still does not have a full development permit to develop and operate the property.
With direct reference to the court proceedings filed by Malta Enterprise, we wish to clarify that the claim being defended is not one for non-payment but for the rescission of the contract of sale of the property on the purported grounds that we have not been operating the a hotel complex, and this in full knowledge of the fact that our company does not have a permit to develop and consequently operate a hotel complex.
On its part, MEPA is claiming that it cannot issue a permit due to the court proceedings filed by Malta Enterprise in train, leading to a stalemate on the issue. Our group has always been clear in declaring that it intends utilising the property as a hotel complex but has been prevented to do so due to the absence of a complete development permit. The group has always maintained that any balance of price due in favour of Malta Enterprise, including interest, will be paid once the necessary development permit is issued.

Claim by Lands Department
First and foremost our group wishes to clarify that the Suncrest Hotel is owned in full by our group and that the claim by the Lands Department are limited to a section of land forming part of the Suncrest and Sunny Coast beach clubs, and not the hotel and restaurants.
Our group took over part of the land over which the lidos are built in 1985, following a public offer by the government of 17 beach concessions around the island. We were allowed to take possession of the land, the necessary planning permits were issued and the lidos, which included the land in question, were constructed. Our situation mirrored that of various neighbouring beach concessions and other concessions around the island.
However, while all other recipients of the beach concessions have entered into agreements with the Lands Department and acquired their concession by long-term emphyteutical grant or freehold title, in the process regularising their position, our group has not been afforded the same treatment and had instead been served with a writ filed by the Lands Department claiming damages for unlawful occupation of the land. This in spite of the fact that our group had even offered to purchase the land at the highest price negotiated with other recipients of beach concessions, as well as various attempts to have the land exchanged with other land of equal value belonging to our group and occupied by the government for many years, for which our group has to date still not received any compensation.
We allow readers to draw their own conclusions in the light of the above facts.

Anglu Xuereb,
AX Holdings

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Mr. Victor Laiviera has rushed to attack environment NGOs basing himself on an article in your paper which, by only presenting a fraction of the Dwejra Action Plan, was aimed at damaging the environment NGO movement in general, and NatureTrust in particular. Had he made his enquiries before writing such a letter he would have learnt the full picture which would have made his contribution more constructive, more effective and also fairer.
Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) recognises that the Action Plan is a package of measures that include the demolition of illegal jetties, the rehabilitation of quarries in the Dwejra area, banning of off-roading and all traffic down to the Inland Sea, clamping down on hunting in the area and the introduction of low-pollution engines for the tourist boats.  This was all agreed to after months of work on the part of Mr. Vince Attard and the NatureTrust team whose untiring work in the environment field over the years deserve far better than this vicious attack.
As regards the boathouses themselves, these will escape demolition but be obliged to dismantle any upper storeys, water tanks, satellite dishes etc, replace iron and aluminum apertures with wood, paint the boathouses a uniform colour and return them to their original role as boathouses.  
In spite of these measures to make the boathouses more palatable, FAA is in principle against all forms of sanctioning of buildings built abusively without permits, especially Outside the Development Zone. More than anything else, this case highlights the need for far better enforcement; if enforcement had been carried out as it should be, these so-called boathouses would have been demolished years ago and we would not today be discussing whether sanctionings should be allowed in a conservation site of international importance. However this was not done and since the Management Plan was approved before FAA was in existence, we could only attend MEPA Hearings and put forward objections which were accepted by the MEPA Board.  If Mr. Laiviera’s motive was genuine, he would have been there alongside us, objecting to the sanctionings, rather than making vicious attacks on environmentalists from the comfort of his armchair.
Furthermore, are very surprised that Mr. Laiviera should imply that FAA has been silenced, considering that on the same day that the Dwejra story broke, we issued a strong press release highlighting our concerns regarding the threat to the Ta’ Kandja water galleries. As Mr. Laiviera correctly pointed out, FAA is a non-political NGO, and as such will not be silenced, however neither will we succumb to pressure to take stands to suit others’ agendas.

Astrid Vella,
Coordinator, FAA

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For the Malta Labour Party, this, alas, has been an election campaign crammed with misprints.
But now we have it from the horse’s mouth. The reception, repeater class, call it what you want, will not be compulsory for children attending private schools but only to those attending government schools. This was declared by Alfred Sant on 25 February during Bondiplus. Alfred Sant while promoting a new beginning will be discriminating against children who attend public schools by adding a scholastic year to their school years. Will this be the introduction of elitism for four year olds? Parents, do understand this.
Alfred Sant also replied to a question by The Times about a balanced budget by 2010. His reply was carried in The Times, 26 February. For Alfred Sant, the promoter of a new beginning based on economic revival, balancing the budget as is being promised by a Nationalist Government will not be a priority. It can wait. He would be fully occupied opening and re-negotiating the EU package, he will be very busy trying to gather enough evidence to charge the present Nationalist Cabinet of corruption, and more important he will be engaged in building the rubble walls at Buskett.
Think, people, think

Joe Azzopardi
Msida

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George Pullicino, a PN candidate on the ninth district like myself, is distributing printed election material. This consists in a (facsimile) ballot sheet in which all PN candidates are listed by name and address. He invites voters to cast their second preference in his favour, after Lawrence Gonzi.
Although my address is in Swieqi and has been so recorded in the electoral register of April 2007 and September 2007, the sheet distributed by George Pullicino places me as resident in Gozo. This was my registered address before I moved to Swieqi and I can therefore understand the oversight. Nonetheless, I think it is relevant to point out to my prospective voters on the ninth district that I live in their community – and not on another island !
This letter will not succeed in repairing the harm caused to me by this regrettable error, but I would greatly appreciate it if readers from the district passed the word around.

Georg Sapiano
Swieqi

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In a letter to your paper last week, Daphne Caruana Galizia wrote that I called her a “Nationalist pom-pom girl” and went on to link pom-pom girls with participation in amateur porn films. Daphne is wrong. The article where I mentioned pom-pom girls was called “Rush to Judgement” and was not about political matters at all. The relevant quote is the following: “With a swipe of her pen Daphne has transformed the whole due process of justice into a three-ringed circus where the prosecuting officers will fare badly if they do not have public cheer leaders and super-annuated pom-pom girls in the guise of columnists cheering them on from the side-lines.” As you can see there is no reference to political allegiance or the amateur porn films Daphne mentions. If Daphne wants to play the victim card, she should get her acts right first.

Claire Bonello
Via email

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In Pamela Hansen’s column on Sunday 17 February she says in reference to Daphne Caruana Galizia: “So much so that at the EU accession celebrations, she even formed part of the EFA entourage ascending the steps at Castille.”
In her column on Wednesday 27 February she says: “I do not rely on rumours; I saw Daphne and her sister Corinne walking up the internal stairs of the Auberge de Castille (it was during the day and not in the evening) in a small entourage…”
Bilocation is not one of my talents, so she couldn’t have seen me in Valletta any time that day or night. On the day Ms Hansen refers to, I did attend EU accession celebrations, but I was in Warsaw not Valletta. That leaves me wondering whether she really saw my sister there at all.
 
Corinne Vella
Lija

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During the last months and more intensely in the last weeks, certain TV shows on the state channel are trying to project themselves as an academy by dictating to us who to choose and who to discard on 8 March.
Monday’s edition of Bondi+ (or rather, “Bonzi+”) was a case in point. Just another programme from Where’s Everybody? Yet another effort to depict the future prime minister in the worst light possible.
Now, in a civilized society, programme hosts are simply hosts and should not at any point turn into hostile opponents of their guests. But Monday’s Bonzi+ suggested, right from the start, that all was set to oppose the Labour leader in every way, on any topic and at each point of the discussion!
The staged show, the host seemed to think, required an even higher dose of unfairness. Therefore a lawyer, a prospective PN candidate and wannabe minister, was roped in to reinforce the hostile ambience. This Mephistopheles was conveniently seated close to the future prime minister. By his body language, general bad manners and total disrespect he represented only too well what the whole country has had to endure under the present administration: arrogance, conceit, impertinence and more.
One thing which was not mentioned during the programme, but which appeared in an advert on Tuesday morning: the very expensive advice given by this learned lawyer to the Gonzipn government which cost the tax payer thousands upon thousands of liri in recent years. Well, I wonder if Bonzi+ is paid by the “Public” Broadcasting Services to divulge such facts and figures! If they are, they were certainly not revealed.
And one last question. Is the same kind of hospitable and courteous ambience being planned for the outgoing prime minister during Bonzi+ next Monday?
But still. I must thank PBS for regaling us with a Bonzi+ that showed those who watched Dr Sant’s skills as the statesman that he is, even when pushed beyond all limits of provocation and decency.
 
Philip Borg
Via email

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An email currently doing the rounds refers to the popular board-game ‘Monopoly. Apparently, the manufacturers are planning to issue an international edition and are asking people to nominate the cities they wish them to feature. Naturally, I promptly voted for Valletta.
Then, as is my wont, I fell into a reverie and started to try and imagine what a Maltese version of Monopoly would be like.
For example: what if you landed on a “utility” and decided to purchase it? Would you have to go through the Privatisation Unit? Would there be a call for tenders or would the purchaser be picked by the Government according to “confidential” criteria? Would the service deteriorate sharply, as happened with Maltapost? Most important, would you have to pay the real price, or would you get an HSBC-style discount?
One of the main features of the game is the construction of houses and hotels – and here the publishers have a veritable embarrassment of riches. I can just imagine some of the cards in the “Chance” pile – “EIA waived. Advance three spaces” or “Permit for additional stories approved. Collect obscene profits”; or even “Use permit for hotel extension to build new one. Nice going”.
On the other hand, you might draw “Permit refused. Change architect”. If you get the latter, you would have the option of going ahead anyway, and getting your building “sanctioned” at a later stage.
If my memory serves me right, the “Community Chest” pile of cards includes several about payment of taxes. Now here, the publishers might find some difficulty with the Maltese version. They would probably have to include two versions, one to be used during normal times and one for election time, when taxes have a habit of evaporating into thin air.
Back to the “Chance” pile of cards, the most well known of which are the “Go to jail” card and its opposite, the “Get out of jail free” card. The Maltese versions will have to be amended slightly to read “Go to jail (unless you name happens to be Zeppi or Queiroz)” while the “Get out of jail free” card will probably have to be renamed “Presidential Pardon”.
I can hardly wait to start playing the game – can you?

Victor Laiviera
Naxxar

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I, the undersigned, am a resident of Triq Katerina Vitale and I am writing this e-mail with regards to the terrible state our road is in.
Road works started during the month of November, and four months later we residents see no progress whatsoever. In fact, it is not only devastating for us to go out, park, etc., in our road, but it is also threatening the residents’ health and safety.
For instance, four weeks ago, due to the fact that no light was put up and no barriers to cover open trenches covered with fresh concrete, my daughter fell waist deep into an open trench. This not only caused damage to my daughter’s clothes and the things she was carrying, but also caused severe stress, considering that the incident could have been a serious one. That same night, another person fell into the same trench!
After reporting all this to ADT (we even have photos as evidence of this incident), they immediately took the necessary actions by putting lights on and covering trenches. We just cannot understand why workers do not emphasise health and safety and do not take the necessary precautions. Instead we have to wait for incidents like these to happen to take action.
We are in desperate need for our road to be taken care of. We feel that the people in charge, workers and all, are all taking us for a ride, since complaints have been made from us residents and the situation is still a bad one. At the moment, we even have an open trench in the middle of the road where we even see rats coming out of it!
There is no doubt that we deserve better.
 
Mary Mifsud
Xemxija

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Alfred Sant, when asked whether Partnership remained a better option than the European Union by Reno Bugeja on Disset, replied “I leave that to the historians to decide.”
He later repeated a similar answer to the press “we will leave it to history to decide whether it (his stand on the EU membership) was a good option”.
On the other hand Lawrence Gonzi is saying “This was my best way to lead Malta in its first four years in the EU. The people gave it to me and when I hand it back, I let the people judge whether Malta is a better place to live in.”
On Disset, Dr Sant also declared that he will reopen the Malta-EU negotiations on “certain issues”, signalling us voters that he is not comfortable to govern Malta with the EU breathing down his neck, and so that he and Eddie Privitera can accept “Full Membership”.
We will leave it to the people to decide on 8 March 2008 about Malta’s future in the EU, not to the historians.
John Schembri
Zurrieq

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I am maddeningly outraged by the latest PN billboard that triumphantly and paternalistically announces that “Gonzi jġib ix-xogħol” (Gonzi creates employment).
Not only is the sentence ridiculous and demeaning; our supreme servant turned into some benevolent demigod who procures our daily bread; but the implications of the picture of smart, stainless and well-dressed youths shown on the billboard is utterly immoral. Are all Maltese workers clerical and middle-class? Why is no boiler-suit wearing worker, farmer or construction industry employee represented? Are all Maltese workers in their 20s? What about people in their 40s and 50s who have been made redundant and are looking for a job? Why are all the workers represented able-bodied? Are there no over-weight, bald or white-haired workers? Are all workers employed in Malta white?
The exclusion of such flesh-and-blood workers from the PN board indicates the disregard of real labour-related issues from electoral concern. Labour’s failure to strongly react against such incorrect and degrading images of the workforce also indicates lack of concern and sensibility by a party that ought to represent worker’s interests. Moreover, the immorality of the advert went unnoticed with the pretentious, lackey and parochial so-called intellectuals, opinion makers and moralisers; particularly those that contribute to the ‘independent’ and ‘impartial’ media.
The cost of living; the enslaving sky-high prices of property which in effect have turned abodes into enslaving liabilities rather than havens that provide shelter and comfort, eroded workers solidarity and did away with worker-rights agitation more effectively than any violent measure could; lack of security in certain industries and the extremely high number of workers dying on their place of work; and the exploitation of immigrants and low-wage earners through short-term contracts, should have been the prime concerns of this electoral campaign.
Except for some lip service, political parties preferred to focus on mud-slinging, trivialities, or issues that concern those who are relatively well off. Those in the lower echelons of society are fooled into taking part in the farce.

Michael Grech
Gharghur

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The Tignè Point Development Project has been in gestation for a long time: too long, it seems, for people to remember the facts.
The Development Brief was published in 1992, presumably when the planners had already decided on their vision for the future of Tignè Point. It was on the basis of that vision, formally approved by the Planning Authority and by the Government of the day, that developers were invited to offer significant amounts of money for the site. When the different projects that responded to the Development Brief were assessed, the MIDI proposal was selected as the one closest to the Development Brief, and one most favourable to Government. It is interesting to note that if one reads the text of the project assessors of the time, one criticism of the MIDI project was that the development proposed was not intensive enough!
The process of obtaining Outline Planning Permission for the MIDI Project was one of the longest ever in Malta, from 1993, when the letter of intent was first issued to MIDI, to 1999, when the Outline Permit was finally approved by MEPA, after having negotiated through two changes of administration, and after detailed design work on every aspect of the project, including environmental impact assessments, public consultation exercises, and shifting planning criteria. It was only when the total volume, and type, of development was approved by MEPA, in the one and only Outline Development Permit approved for the site, that the Emphyteutical Grant was approved in Parliament, via a unanimously approved resolution. Contrary to what was stated in the article in MaltaToday on 17 February 2008 (“Midi project too intensive, George Pullicino admits now”), there were no successive applications to MEPA which gradually increased the volume of development, residential or otherwise. This is pure, and false, conjecture, which should have been checked before going to print.
Although the approved Outline Development Permit does include a number of changes from the Development Brief, it is very simplistic to state that the changes consisted of an increase in the number of residences. Over the six years of negotiation, the planners realized that there were a number of inconsistencies in the Development Brief; for example, a high vertical element (tower) was to be located in the ditch of Fort Tignè; one wing of the same Fort was to be demolished; a number of hotels were envisaged in an area which already had two existing hotels, at a time when hotels were having serious operational problems; a number of 10th c. barracks blocks were required to be retained and restored, when, in actual fact, most of the interiors of which had already been extensively modified in the 1970s – and three had to be displaced in order to accommodate the extension ambitions of an adjacent third party hotel; in fact, at a certain stage, modifications had to be made to the boundary of the site, that was being considered as part of the eventual Emphyteutical Grant, in order to accommodate the expansion requirements declared by two adjacent hotels. And these inconsistencies were removed in the scheme that was approved at Outline Permit stage. Other mistakes were discovered later – for example, in the Development Brief, as well as in the approved Outline Permit, the Garden Battery was earmarked to the demolished; and building development was envisaged on the glacis of Fort Tignè, that is, located north-west of the westernmost Gun Emplacement. These mistakes had to be rectified after the issuing of the Outline Development permit, obviously at a price. For example, the unscheduled preservation of the Garden Battery added more than a cool two million Malta liri, (5 million euros), to the infrastructural and heritage restoration costs of the Project.
Contrary to what was stated in the MaltaToday of 17 February, the volume of development that was approved in the Outline Development Permit has not been exceeded; neither has the ratio of residential development to commercial development changed. Indeed, when MEPA finally approves the Full Development applications currently being processed, some of which were filed three years ago, the volume of development will not exceed that envisaged at Outline Permit stage. This does not mean that the approved master-plan has not changed. The preservation of the Garden Battery, and the glacis, referred to above, required the “development sterilization” of a large area, measuring more than ca. 2500metres square, (and considerably more below ground); and, as a result, the approved volume could only be accommodated in some higher buildings (although, the front Tignè South blocks are actually lower than originally approved at Outline Permit stage).
Of course, one can understand the perception that the MIDI development is an excessively intensive one, but is this a fact or an opinion? It is difficult to reconcile this perception, when the development permitted is not any higher than other developments in the same peninsula, and elsewhere in the whole Sliema/St Julian’s area as even shown in the photograph attached to the article in question, whilst, at the same time, and differently form any other development, the Tignè Project includes large areas of public, urban, open space.
Unfortunately, the very important issue of appropriate development density has never been properly publicly debated, in the context of the future development of the Islands. Most public statements have been coloured by the admitted inconvenience that is caused to residents by the construction processes, (but not particularly by the MIDI project), which include the demolition of existing properties adjacent to residential properties still in use (which was never the case in the MIDI Project), cranes that block roads, or over-fly residential property in use, (which was, again, never the case in the MIDI Project), or which produce noise and vibration which disturbs neighbours, (seven years of noise and vibration monitoring has never identified a situation of discomfort caused to adjacent residents by the MIDI Project). There has been no attempt at a proper debate on the advantages of large-scale redevelopment as compared to piecemeal development, typical of the rest of the Sliema/St Julian’s conurbation. There has never been any attempt at a serious debate on the advantages of intensification of development, at strategic locations, in the context of an improved, holistic, national transport strategy. There has never been any attempt at a national debate on appropriate building densities, in the context of an improved, holistic, national transport strategy. There has never been any attempt at a national debate on appropriate building densities, in the context of a limited land area, of a growing population, and a fact often ignored, of a population with higher expectations on the quality of urban living, as contrasted to suburbia. Is it not the “intensification” of development, that allows the creation of an urban space where all vehicles travel, and are parked, below ground, and all the ground level is completely pedestrianized? Is it not the “intensification” of development that creates areas of residential space immediately adjacent to office space, shops, leisure and sports facilities, and heritage sites, all within walking distance, which will serve to reduce the need for private vehicle movement, and increase the possibilities for the success of public transport?
This new way of redevelopment was indeed MEPA’s vision when the project was launched in 1992, and it is a pity that instead of a serious critique of this vision, all that the newspaper could report was a series of un-researched, unverified and untrue allegations.

Prof. Alex Torpiano
Lead Consultant
aoM Partnership

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I confess that I am in favour of divorce to get rid of the hypocrisy of “separation”. I confess that I am for a secular state and reject the meddling of religious bodies in politics.
I confess that I am in favour of human and animal rights and to stop hunting and trapping. I confess that I am politically for more than 2 parties to have all Maltese democratically represented with options for alliances.
I confess that I am for safeguarding the environment, which means more trees, bushes, parks instead of more buildings and concrete jungles. I confess that legal and/or illegal asylum seekers should be regarded as human beings.
I confess that I am in favour of a “change of attitudes” of people including the strict implementation of EU rules, after all we are Europeans and not people of another continent.
Having carefully read the promises of all party leaders, I confess that I found only one party which proposes most of my confessions which will get my votes – AD: The Green Party.
Have you made up your mind too?

Michael Alexander,
Ta’ Xbiex

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With the regard to the proposed public swimming-pool in Gozo, let me point out that this was an electoral promise by the National Party back in 1991. After seventeen years we are still waiting for this amenity, which would be a great improvement to our island.
 There are two attraction possibilities for locating the pool: 1) with the exiting sports complex and 2) integrated with the newly constructed secondary school premises in the same area.
 Also, supposing that a group of people visited Victoria, some might want to take advantage of the exercising facility while others wanted to swim. They could conveniently do this, if the pool were built in Victoria. Even school children can benefit from such sport. As Alternattiva Demokratika has been saying all along, I also agree that if Malta already has two such national pools, then Gozo deserves one. Don’t continue to treat us less.
Given the suitability of the Otters Water Polo Club for training purposes, Gozitans would optimally benefit from the provision of both facilities, were this scheme pursued.
 Let us hope that satisfactory action will be taken without delay.

Angelo Bartolo
Gharb Gozo

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In one of the many speeches during this electoral campaign, Dr Gonzi was reported to have stated that his government had ruled out the Privitisation of the national airline, Air Malta.
Dr Gonzi was reported to have said: “We need the guarantee of a national airline which is ours and not in the hands of someone who can decide to close it on any day and crush us’. He was also reported to have said that in order for Malta to be turned into a centre of excellence ‘ …continuous accessibility to Europe and Africa was imperative”. (The Times, 21 January)
I am in complete agreement with Dr Gonzi and I am pleased to note his awareness and appreciation of the particular requirements of an island state on the periphery of Europe. However, I am afraid that such statements made on the eve of an election may be nothing more than a vote-catching strategy aimed at attracting the votes of the hundreds of Air Malta employees and their families. The credibility of this statement can be weighed against recent history concerning another company, Sea Malta, briefly outlined below.
Some years ago, the Nationalist government made an unequivocal statement singling out three companies to be shielded from privatization, as they were considered to be of strategic importance to Malta. These companies were Air Malta, Gozo Channel and Sea Malta. The statement that the Government will not privatise these three companies was not made in some speech somewhere “taht it-tinda”. Nor was it made on some television programme. Nor was it made preaching to the converted in a mass meeting. No, Sir! This statement was included in a solemn speech, commonly known as ‘speech from the throne’, which outlined the most important strategies, policies and commitments of the elected government, delivered by no less than H.E. the President of the Republic in the House of Representatives on the occasion of the opening of Parliament of the 2003-2008 legislature.
Contrary to the government’s own declared policies, as everybody knows, one of these companies – Sea Malta – is no longer around.
In fact, barely two years down the line, mockery was made of this solemn speech and contrary to its contents, Sea Malta was annihilated from the face of the earth. Having failed to sell the company (and, at least, getting some cash for the national coffers), the Government opted to go for its liquidation. Thirty- three years of business and goodwill were awarded Scot free to a foreign company; the vast shipping and maritime knowledge of 125 employees – many trained at the expense of public funds – flushed down the drain; and the company’s assets disposed of without real knowledge of what they were really worth.
Our only national shipping line – the one which ensured “…continuous accessibility to Europe….”, correctly considered imperative by Dr Gonzi – has become a monopoly in the hands of a foreign company, or in the PM’s words, potentially “… in the hands of someone who can decide to close it on any day and crush us”. The PM must have remembered the many times shipping lines came and went, leaving industry in the lurch (with Sea Malta being there to mop up the mess) because “someone” in some boardroom far away, decided that Malta was not a good deal for the bottom line. Well, Sea Malta is no longer there to provide solace to the industry, and so I will not be surprised if the PM is having nightmares about such scenario hitting the airline sector.
In view of the above, it is therefore legitimate to question the weight of the PM’s statement with regard to the future of Air Malta. History and a track record of this government with regard to privatisation, as well as the government’s blatant turn-around on its own declarations, seriously dent Dr Gonzi’s credibility in this regard. I am convinced that Dr Gonzi never wanted to dispose of the national shipping line, for the same very valid reasons he said that he will not do so with the national airline. But facts show that what Prime Minister Gonzi wants, may be overruled by other agendas.
I suppose that as long as we are regaled with ministers who, while enjoying publicly flirting with their PDAs, also publicly bet on who will lose their jobs next, I do not think that, notwithstanding Dr Gonzi’s statement, Air Malta employees or their families can sleep easy at night. One down, two to go...

Marlene Mizzi
Rabat

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This week I had the pleasure for the second time in my life to receive a personalised letter from Dr Alfred Sant, leader of the MLP.
When I read this letter it was a déjà-vû for me. I had received a similar letter before the election held in 1996. At that time I had no vote, and I was going to start university. In that letter Dr Sant had promised me that my stipend would have been secure once he was elected as Prime Minister. But what he did with my stipend was exactly the opposite, and if he had stayed in power I would have ended up paying back my stipend together with the interests.
The letter I received this week was similar. It was inviting me to start a new beginning in order to live a better life. No thanks, Dr Sant. My new beginning started when Malta joined the European Union after the majority of the Maltese people, including me, voted YES in the Referendum and confirmed that result in the 2003 elections, since you did not accept the result and believed that the partnership won. From that day onwards I’ve been living a better life, and I hope to continue living it unless someone decides to renegotiate the EU treaty for which I voted.
Dr Sant also told me that his new government wanted to bring changes in different sectors such as the environment, education, training, industry, Information Technology, and tourism. No thanks again Dr. Sant. This government already brought a lot of changes. This government closed Mt Maghtab, introduced waste separation, built new schools and invested in teachers and resources, trained people (also with the help of the European Union), made huge steps in information technology and brought Smart City in Malta, and achieved a new record in tourism.
“Our ambition is your ambition” is said in this letter. Again, no thanks. My ambition is not to make our students repeat a year. My ambition is not to make my fellow workers get paid less for their overtime. My ambition is not to reduce social services to those in need in case there should be a deficit. My ambition is to have a government that creates as many jobs as possible, not just 6,000 jobs in five years.
And the funniest part of this letter is where Dr Sant tells me that he believes in me and that we can be amongst the best inside the European Union. Dr Sant we are already one of the best countries in the European Union. We proved ourselves to be on the same level, or better, than other countries and not “makku” (“small fry”) like you used to tell us we would have been. That is why this government managed to get the Euro and €850 million for our country, and not €1 million a year like you had told us. That is why our youths are being offered loads of opportunities to study or work in the country they choose. That is why if I should ever be unsatisfied with something or think I’ve been discriminated by someone, I can always go and complain with other authorities in the European Union. That is why Malta now is more secure, both geographically and economically.
The letter ends with Dr Sant telling me that he is proud that together we can bring change and ensure a nice future. I tend to agree with this last part. Yes together we can continue to change our country. We can do it together with all the different sectors in Malta, together with the other countries in the European Union and obviously together with Dr. Lawrence Gonzi again as our Prime Minister.
The last line of the letter is an invitation for me to choose Labour on the 8th March. No thanks Dr Sant. I cannot risk having other undesired surprises like I had after your first letter in 1996. I hope this time people won’t be fooled like in 1996. So I will choose PN.

Mark Azzopardi
Gharghur

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The inauguration of the gas pipeline between Italy and Libya in October 2004 was celebrated with plenty of pomp and fanfare amid journalists and VIPs present at the event that occurred under the patronage of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and the then Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi.
Built at a cost of $6.6 billion, and hailed as the world’s deepest pipeline, reaching a depth of 1,127 meters, the 540-km engineering feat is supplying Italy with 10% of its annual gas needs.
The pipe starts from a place called Mellitah in the North African country and crosses over to the Sicilian town of Gela passing to Malta’s east and going through both our national territorial waters (which extend to 12 nautical miles) as well as the contiguous waters (that extend to 24 nautical miles). Unlike what happens in the case of similar pipelines around the world, the Maltese have been totally ignored as regards to revenue from this project. It is in fact well-known that when pipelines pass within the sea areas in which a third country has a commercial interest, that country earns a fee or a royalty for allowing access of the pipeline through the said area.
Malta is earning absolutely nothing out of this and this is simply because the Maltese government has never bothered to lay a legally justifiable claim for financial compensation. Should the Maltese government do as other governments such as the Tunisian one has done, Malta would also benefit from an annual income running into millions of Euros.
Maltese taxpayers have a right to ask as to why has this claim never been laid and are to be given a satisfactory explanation from a government that is duty-bound to make the best use of our resources and to make the best out of the potential revenue opportunities that Malta can exploit.
Above all, why did this fact come to light due to Azzjoni Nazzjonali’s initiative of divulging the details and not via one of the established political parties? Do the PN and MLP have some vested interest in leaving this issue well swept under the carpet?
 
Anthony Zammit.
Birkirkara

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Looking at the past, one can see that the Malta Labour Party (MLP) always wanted to isolate Malta: Though Malta should join the EU, they withdrew this application and postponed accession. Why did they do that?
They campaign for the Labour Party (MLP) with lies. Who can believe that your electricity price will go down while all over the world the cost of energy is increasing? I really ask myself if Alfred Sant is stupid enough to believe this. People who have been convinced by this argument should change their opinion very quickly and elect the Partit Nazzionalista.
Benjamin Keul and Carolin Müller
Germany

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It is really unbelievable how we Maltese state that we have freedom of speech and on the other hand making up so much noise and express so much abhorrence towards our students for behaving the way they did at the University.
May I remind your readers that youths tend to be rebellious and their feelings are nearly always emotionally expressed. However this shows that Maltese “adults” and mature persons are not so mature as they would like to appear as they get offended instead of laughing at such instances.
I truly hope that these students will not become as today’s adults who express such resentment towards new generations. In 20 years’ time or even less, some of these “selfish students” may also be leading our country.
 
Michel Mifsud
Fgura

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