Tag: Joseph Muscat

Categories
COVID-19

Monetizing Disasters the Labour Way

Minister Clayton Bartolo is not having a good week at the office. The tourism sector for which he is responsible is the playing ground for a huge dilemma that pits two different priorities of a nation against each other. On the one hand, the sector depends heavily on the free movement of persons into the island – an economic priority of the first order. No tourists means no money to go round. On the other hand, the current resurge of the pandemic menas that measures need to be taken to protect the citizens of Malta from another dangerous wave.

Health vs Economy should be a no-brainer. In his interviews the Minister repeatedly uses keywords such as “caution” and “responsibility”. Each time he is forced to toe the fine line between encouraging the tourist sector’s economy and reassuring the rest of the nation that all steps are taken in a way not to imperil the health of the residents of the island. As we watch the story unfold it is not always so straightforward. The rush to reopen the tourist sector, especialy the language schools, has had some negative results that may be even more painful in the long-term.

Take for example the case of the stranded and quarantined students. Malta’s language school sector has taken a definitive negative blow in Italy with the coverage of the quarantine conditions that the Italian students have been obliged to live in. Have a look at the title of this article on La Stampa which I am sure disgraced former PM Joseph Muscat would love to read:

Coronavirus, Dubai non è come Malta. Lo studente bloccato: “Assistiti da medici e infermieri. Per i miei 18 anni una torta dal ministero della Salute”

(La Stampa)

Lovely no? Malta is now the reference point on the negative end of the scale. Insofar as dealing with the pandemic is concerned, we have moved from top of the class in Europe to being the bad example that no one wishes to emulate. Incidentally, you would have thought that with all the talk the tourism sector has going about its importance they would have mobilized their resources better in order to avoid this kind of situation.

Labour’s rush to capitalise on the UK’s green-lighting of Malta was symptomatic on the eagerness to monetize as quickly as possible and make up for lost time. Disguised in terms of “assisting recovery” of affected sectors, such decisions are clearly a result of a twisted outlook that is not new in Labour’s vocabulary. This outlook is based on an unprincipled money-based approach to monetize on any disastrous situation.

Back in 2011 a Joseph Muscat in opposition would speak of the advantages that would accrue to Malta thanks to the instability in North Africa following the Arab Spring. At the time I had commented:

” … there is something wrong when a progressive politician suggests taking advantage of the Arab Spring to boost national tourism. It gets worse when the same politician lauds Italy’s heavy-handed nationalism on the matter of immigration.”

Pulse, J’accuse on the Malta Independent on Sunday

The Labour party approach to international disasters or events is as unprincipled as it is ruthless. Again back in 2011 George Vella (now President, then aspirant foreign minister) saw the troubles in Libya as a possible boon for Malta since they could end up solving the immigration problem once, as George Vella put it, Libya became a Dubai in the Mediterranean attracting investment (see Labour Loves Libya on J’accuse in August 2011). Now if you set aside the inconsistencies between Muscat’s hopes of attracting that investment rerouted away from a troubled North Africa and Vella’s hope that the investment (and the immigrants) goes to Libya instead you find the bottom line: Malta gaining economically on the back of other disasters.

The problem with the pandemic is that turning Malta into an economic hyena also risks damaging irreparably our reputation in particular sectors while also aggravating the health situation on the island. As the saying goes: Prosit Minestri.

Categories
Corruption Zolabytes

Il-bouncer ta’ Kastilja

GUEST POST: In this facebook post Christian Grima takes a good look at what it takes to get into the Auberge de Castille. The standards at the door are those set by bouncer par excellence Robert Abela. Who exactly is allowed in? (Post reproduced on akkuza.com with the author’s permission).

Jekk il-Kap tal-Opposizzjoni biex jidhol Kastilja biex ikellmek, Prim Ministru, irid jirbah l-elezzjoni generali, allura jekk nigu f’dan, inti wkoll, suppost mhux qed topera minnu, ghax sa fejn naf jien, inti ma rbaht l-ebda elezzjoni generali, ghadek. Kien rebbahhielek il-halliel, korrot tas-sena u x’aktarx qattiel jew hati li heba l-involviment tieghu jew ta’ dawk l-eqreb tieghu fl-assassinju barbaru ta’ Daphne Caruana Galizia u li llum inti writt is-siggu nkallat tieghu.Joseph Muscat, Illum injot, moralment fallut u rrapportat li nvestigat lokalment kif ukoll barra minn xtutna.

Nexia BT pero’ donnhom rebhuha l-elezzjoni generali hux? Jew qed inhawwad? Ghax dawk dehlin u hergin minn hemm kienu, tant li biex ma tiskomodawhomx u biex ma jarawkomx dehlin u hergin l-ufficini taghhom kull kwarta qiskom boloh, tajtuhom ufficcju Kastilja.Illum kellu jinghalaq dak l-ufficcju kif kellu jinghalaq kull ufficju iehor taghhom bl-assi kollha taghhom iffrizati, pendenti nvestigazzjoni ta’ hasil ta’ flus. B’inkjesta ohra fuq Schembri u Hillman li waslet biex tinghalaq u jigi pprezentat il-Proces Verbal.

Melvin Theuma jidher li rebahha l-elezzjoni generali wkoll skondtok, ghax dak ukoll diehel u hiereg ghand ic-Chief of Staff tal-predecissur tieghek f’Kastilja biex jinnegozja l-mahfra presidenzjali li tah Joseph Muscat, allegatament minn wara dahrek, wara li ftiehmu l-verzjoni maqbula bejniethom li kellu jaghti lill-pulzija u lill-Qrati taghna biex jghattilhom ghemilhom.Illum miraklu li ghadu haj Melvin wara li allegatament ipprova joqtol ruhu b’idejh b’diversi daqqiet ta’ sikkina li ta lilu nniffsu, ghax ma setghax jghix bl-inkwiet u bil-pressjoni li kien qed jaghmillu l-predecissur tieghek, siehbu Keith li skondtok hxih, u r-rimanenti nies gewwa kastilja li wasslulu r-risposti u t-theddid li kwazi gennewh.

Yorgen Fenech ukoll jidher li rebah elezzjoni generali nahseb..jew qed nerga’ nitfixkel, issa?Ghax dak ukoll diehel u hiereg Kastilja kien, qisu sejjer go latrina, kemm qabel, kif ukoll wara li nqatlet Daphne Caruana Galizia, biex jiltaqa’ ma’ Keith u ma dak li qed tpoggi fis-siggu tieghu.Joseph Muscat, illum injot u rredikolat mad-dinja kollha,L-istess Yorgen Fenech li bhalissa ghaddej kumpilazzjoni mressaq b’akkuzi fost ohrajn ta’ omicidju volontarju ta’ Daphne Caruana Galizia.Nahseb ahjar tiltaqa’ mieghu l-ufficcju tieghu il-Pieta’ lil Bernard Grech, Robert Abela. Jew il-Kwartieri l-Mile End.

L-ufficcju tieghek Kastilja, barra li skond kliemek ghadek ma kkwalifikajtx biex topera minnu, huwa ufficcju mishut u mcappas bid-demm b’riha taqsamlek qalbek li ma tissaportihiex.Riha ta’ flus jintnu jqattru d-demm. Habatlek sew li trid tilbes maskra.

Sakemm ma tizgurax li ssir gustizzja ma’ kulhadd Prim Ministru, mishut ha jibqalek l-ufficcju tieghek Kastilja u ghad trid tishet is-siegha u l-mument li ntrigajt li tnaddaf il-hmieg li halla warajh il-korrott dinji tas-sena, li fis-siggu mcappas tieghu, inti tpoggi ta’ kuljum, iggorrlu l-mantell

.Joseph Muscat. Illum injot. Illum fallut.

Categories
Corruption Politics

Corrupt Kings & Exile

In my mind, good old King Juan Carlos of Spain remains the monarch who sat through the 1982 World Cup finals as royal of the host nation. I don’t have a particular fancy for royalty so my knowledge of whatever he has been up to since stopped there. Until, that is, news of the corruption scandal linking King JC to bribes paid by Saudis in connection with some railway contract.

King JC stepped aside and let his son take the crown but the scandal was not ging away any time soon. And it shouldn’t because let’s face it justice should be the same for all, whether or not there is a real or imaginary crown on their head. Today’s news that the former King is going to self-imposed exile in the Dominican Republic still does not exonerate him from any responsibility.

In a statement, King JC’s lawyers stated that he was not escaping justice and would still be available to prosecutors.

I am not quite sure how that story will end but it jars with the story of Malta’s very own disgraced King who continues to live beyond his declared means. While he may believe that these matters are private and “none of your business” there is no doubt that many questions remain to be answered.

The rules of our democracy are flaunted daily by the members of the political parties who have had the indecency to craft the rules to their needs over the last decades. From political party financing, to personal accounts and interests of the various MPs, to the make up of the various authorities that are supposed to uphold the rule of law, all of them are guilty of taking the law for one big ride.

For there is no doubt that if Muscat’s annual declaration of assets were to be believed there is no way in hell he can be affording all this gallivanting and playing around with his imaginary jet-set. The class-obsessed couple (remember the call for a Middle Class for all) cannot resist to flaunt their extravagant lifestyle and in doing so they continue to beg questions that remain unanswered.

The disgraced ex-PM who presided over the most corrupt executive in Maltese history does not need to go into exile. The reason for that is that we still live in times of impunity, notwithstanding the cosmetic changes we have recently witnessed.

There are crooks everywhere, the situation remains as desperate as ever.

Categories
Rule of Law

The Long Haul

“The murder of blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia triggered off a difficult moment for Malta, but it should not be allowed to derail the country’s long-term plans, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said today.”

Muscat was speaking in a pre-recorded message to the audience of the EY annual conference in Malta. It had to be a video tape because Muscat was busily back to business-as-usual peddling passports in Dubai (he actually stopped for a meeting with an Oil Magnate from the Emirates before that, he’s not one to miss this kind of beat). There would be more Newspeak from Muscat in Dubai where the Henley & Partners contracted speaker would tell an audience of potential buyers that the cash-for-passports scheme was not there simply for Malta to make money. He went further… “Malta’s cash-for-passports scheme was not about making a quick buck and the country’s economy is not dependent on it”. A surplus of newspeak for the day.

Back to his earlier taped speech though. We “should not be allowed” to derail the country’s long term plans. He told the audience. Look into his eyes, look into his eyes – you are hurt but don’t let this stick for too long. Get back on the script. Everything is fine and dandy. The economy is booming. It is not thanks to Malta’s increasing dependence on shady deals. You’ve got it good. Do you want to ruin it all? Rule of law? Of course we have institutions. We have a police commissioner and an attorney general too. Joseph Muscat trusts them and while he hears your complaints he begs to differ. (Sorry, I said begs, I mean haughtily dismisses).

It is all too easy to speak of Nero fiddling while Rome burns. It is crucial though that we get to focus. This is the defining moment of civil society. It cannot rely on either of the traditional parties. It must build its own momentum and take the battle to the front on its own steam. The most important element is constant education, constant information, and constant refreshing of memory. The machines are in motion to convince you that this is business as usual. The hideous strategy of targeting critics as being non-patriots cannot be allowed to work.

Civil society must learn to look in the mirror and recognise itself free from all the shackles of partisan interpretation. The key for identification is simple. Civil society criticises and advocates for change for the good of the country. Anyone working for the good of anything else – particularly for the revival or strengthening of one or other of the PLPN hegemony is not part of this new battle.

Here is a message to Joseph Muscat. Civil society is not out to derail the country’s long term plans. Civil society is here to set the country back on track in spite of the existence of both parties. The movement will grow. It is inevitable. Constitutional reform must and will come from the ultimate sovereign: the people. We will not let you fake that one too.

We’re here to stay. We’re here for the long haul.

Categories
Corruption

Muscat Offers Price of a Passport (for a family) to Find Daphne’s Assassin

The government has officially confirmed today it is offering a €1 million reward for information leading to the identification of the person or persons responsible for Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder.

Daphne’s relatives have already refused to endorse the reward. “Justice, beyond criminal liability, will only be served when everything that our mother fought for – political accountability, integrity in public life and an open and free society – replaces the desperate situation we are in” – were the words of Daphne’s sons.

The government seems to believe that it can buy a clean conscience with €1 million. That million euros will not bring Daphne back. It will not reunite a grieving family. That does not count in the government scale of values though.

In fact one million euros is just about right to buy an interested family a passport for each member of the family. If they choose to rent a house to circumvent the property investment issue they might even get some change back on that million.

This is the government of the budget surplus made of questionable profits. It believes it can put a price on everything and that way everything will be solved.

There is no price for freedom.

There are crooks everywhere now. But some people will never be bought.

Categories
Politics Values

Morning-after: Muscat does a Farage

muscat_farage

Malta cannot stop a company from importing a morning-after contraceptive pill that has EU approval, Joseph Muscat said this evening. Speaking at one of the meetings in the Gvern li Jisma series, the Prime Minister said he was not in a position to make moral statements, but to speak to the experts. In this case, the expert was the Medicines’ Authority, whose reply had actually surprised him, Dr Muscat said.

Then people actually wonder why Joseph Muscat gets compared to Nigel Farage. Here’s why. On the contraception pill our Prime Minister practically implied that Malta would be obliged by the EU to sell the “morning-after” pill over the counter (I don’t think anybody would be obliged to import a pill if the intention were not to sell it).

Using the EU as a monster that forces states to do what they do not want to do in their sovereign competencies is exactly what Farage did.

The truth is that following a recommendation by the European Medicines Agency (based in the UK incidentally) in 2014, the European Commission issued a decision in 2015 switching the status of two morning after pills from prescription to non-prescription. This decision DOES NOT LEGALLY BIND member states and in fact Malta still neither registers nor sells such pills. Countries such as Italy have for some time attached a further condition before allowing over the counter sale (pregnancy test). (source)

Switching the debate to whether the EU obliges Malta to decide on the matter is tantamount to washing ones hands of the decision. This is not the kind of decision making that one would expect from a progressive and pro-Europeanist Prime Minister.

“In November 2014, the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommended a change in classification status from prescription to non-prescription for UPA ECPs, meaning that the drug could be obtained without a prescription in the EU. Following the EMA´s assessment, in January 2015, the European Commission issued an implementing decision that UPA ECPs should be available without a prescription, amending the marketing authorisation granted in 2009 for UPA ECPs.

While the European Commission’s decision is not legally binding and does not create new obligations to the EU Member States with regards to EC accessibility, in most EU countries, the decision is being followed, and UPA ECPs are available directly in the pharmacies or are in the process of becoming available. At the end of November 2015, the situation regarding ECPs in the EU was the following:

UPA ECPs are available without prescription in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Age restrictions have been set in at least 3 countries: Croatia and Italy (for women younger than 18) and Poland (for women younger than 15).

In the Baltic subregion, the new marketing authorisation is being processed in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, and UPA ECPs are expected to be available by 2016.

In Hungary, in January 2015, the government decided that because of patient safety considerations, it will continue to require prescriptions for all types of EC.

In Malta, LNG ECPs and UPA ECPs are not registered or available.

LNG ECPs remain a prescription drug in Hungary and Poland. In Croatia and Italy since October 2015, at least one brand of LNG ECPs is registered as prescription- free products.”

The decision of whether the morning after pill is available over the counter remains a national prerogative. It is a decision that must be taken at a national level. Sure, it must be informed by the EU Commission decision recommending over-the counter sales that is the result of a recommendation by a specialised agency but this does not undermine the fact that it is ultimately a national decision of which our government cannot wash its hands.

Washing his hands and blaming the EU monster is dishonest and untruthful to begin with. It also unmasks the real level of commitment that Muscat has both to progressive and Europeanist ideas.

We need more fact-based politics and less untruths. Otherwise we might as well have a comedian like Farage running our country irresponsibly.

 

ADDENDUM (from Facebook):

James Debono asks:

I am no expert on importation of medicines and laws regulating them. On a political level it would be wiser not shift buck to EUon such matters and assume responsibility. That is the non technical argument. I say this cause am completely in favour of morning after and wary of shifting arguments to EU on sensitive issues. So I can see your political point. That said the pill is available in all EU countries with differences being on need of prescription etc. I am under impression that local medicines authority has to authorize it at some point. My technical question is whether local authorities can stop any medicine from being imported without submitting a legal ground to do so (and thus expose themselves to a legal challenge) Does such a step (to ban this particular brand of morning after pill) require the approval of new legislation to justify any decision to ban it locally (and thus not open state to legal challenge)? So technically muscat seems to be saying we are not going out of the way to stop this pill on irrational grounds (while politically passing buck on single market)?

Thank you James Debono. Let me begin by stating that my post was not a position on whether the pill should or should not be available. I was simply stating that the buck should not be passed onto the EU when it is evidently not the case.

I will try to answer your question as best as I can. First of all the issue of marketing and sale of Medicines is a special field of EU law that in some cases requires special implementation of the general principles of free movement of goods. IN essence the idea is to create a single market insofar as medicinal products are concerned but the basic directive also recognises differences in MSs (member states) on certain issues.

The general principle is that a registered product should be marketable in all the EU. That is when an EU-wide license is issued. In other cases MS specific authorities (NCA’s) have the power to issue or refuse national licenses. This occurs for different reasons all of which boil down to public policy.

It is important to realise that the European Medicine’s Agency is responsible for scientific research and study of all products. All EU states benefit from the investment made by a centralised agency to vet medicincal products and this obviously avoids replication over 28 MSs.

Now for the national agency. They are entitled to refuse to license certain products including morning after pills.

You should be looking at Directive 2001/83 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 November 2001 on the Community code relating to medicinal products for human use. Particularly its article 4(4) which states: “This Directive shall not affect the application of national legislation prohibiting or restricting the sale, supply or use of medicinal products as contraceptives or abortifacients. The Member States shall communicate the national legislation concerned to the Commission.”

So in answer to your question: “whether local authorities can stop any medicine from being imported without submitting a legal ground to do so?” The answer is yes since the actual point is that local autorithies cannot be obliged to license certain categories of drugs/medicines.

Link to the Directive.

Link to the Commission decision advising Member States to allow over the counter prescription.

Additional reading.