No deposit paid on GSSE participation in Andorra

The Malta Olympic Committee yesterday piled up the pressure on the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and the Kunsill Malti ghall-Isport, as no solution to the dispute over autonomy seems to be near.

In its bid to guarantee more integrity and freedom in its administration, the MOC has decided not to pay a deposit which would have secured participation in the 2005 Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE) in Andorra next May.

Yesterday, the MOC executive met for the umpteenth time over the past few days and made a thorough assessment of proposals put forward by national federations after an urgent meeting on Thursday.

Besides asking the ministry for more autonomy, the MOC is also contending that the promised aid of Lm150,000 is not enough for them to break even at the end of a year during which they are estimating an expenditure of Lm304,900, mostly planned on the GSSE, Mediter-ranean Games and the Youth Games.

Moreover, the MOC is saying that they are finding it difficult to implement training programmes as these have first to be approved by the Kunsill Malti ghall-Isport which is unduly delaying the process.

A MOC statement yesterday cited parts of the Olympic Charter dealing with the autonomy of national federations and urging the same federations to resist pressures not to comply with that treaty.

The statement said that the MOC believes in its right and that of the members for proper and adequate funding to the development of sport.

The MOC has always administered the funds made available most scrupulously, the statement added.

Member federations received these funds after the approval of the technical programmes and the presentation of the relative receipts according to the established programme. MOC accounts are inspected annually by a certified public auditor.

With no response from the authorities, the MOC yesterday decided not to pay the deposit as requested by the international organising committee to take part in Andorra '05.

The deposit should have been paid by tomorrow. The MOC said they will not meet this deadline but have requested an extension of a few days.

Maltese sports administrators lobbied hard in the early 80s to launch the GSSE. The first Games were held in San Marino in 1985. So far, there have been 10 GSSE editions, two of which were staged in Malta.