Vilifying Gozo and the Gozitans

The decision taken by the chairman of the Electoral Commission and its eight members, four chosen by the Nationalist Party in Government, and four by the Labour Party in opposition, has vilified Gozo and humiliated the Gozitans.

Through its decision, the commission has succeeded to shatter the unity of the island. It has made a parody of the regionality of Gozo, supposedly entrenched in Malta's Accession Treaty to the EU.

The Electoral Commission, which does not have a Gozitan member, has decreed that Ghajnsielem and Comino should not be considered as part of Gozo any longer. It has become part of Naxxar, St Paul's Bay, and Mellieha.

The Commission has made a travesty of the solemn promise made by the then Prime Minister Dr Eddie Fenech Adami on Tuesday, March 4, 2003, in Republic Street, Victoria.

Days before the EU referendum, he emphasised that Gozo be declared a region on its own. "Dr Fenech Adami said Gozo had received special treatment from the EU, which has recognised it as a region with special needs. Gozo's name would be specifically mentioned in the succession treaty," The Times reported the following morning. This regionality has now been shattered.

The then Prime Minister had gone to great pains to explain how at the Copenhagen (European Council) Summit of December 12-13, 2002, Malta had agreed with the EU on the text of a declaration that was to be attached to Malta's Accession Treaty on the "island region of Gozo".

The purpose of the declaration was to highlight Gozo's specific needs as distinct from Malta's and to address those needs effectively and specifically with Malta in the EU.

That declaration affirms inter alia "that the island region of Gozo has economic and social specificities". For this reason, the island should always be regarded as one whole. Not however by the Electoral Commission.

It is especially vexatious that the members of the Commission chosen by the Nationalist Party betrayed the trust that the majority of the Gozitans placed in the party which "welcomed" the new boundaries, as stated in a front page report in The Times last Wednesday. This "welcome" is naturally also extended to the hiving off of Ghajnsielem from the Gozo electoral district.

The fact that the Nationalist Party justified the decision of the Electoral Commission is a slap in the face for those Gozitans who have voted for the PN throughout their lives. The party knows full well that it is not the population of Gozo that has increased. It is the number of residents of Malta registering themselves under addresses in Gozo to buy cheaper ferry tickets. Why didn't the party address this problem and avoid this result?

The addenda that the party will seek to do something about this disfigurement appeases very slightly the disgust expressed by many Gozitans on Tuesday morning when news of this began making the rounds.

The PN suggested that parliament should debate constitutional amendments so that Gozo would remain one district. Should the Government proceed to move such a constitutional amendment in the House, it was calling on the opposition to back it.

This correspondent has, on more than one occasion, suggested this and other solutions. These fell on deaf ears up to now.We reiterate our appeal to the two parties represented in parliament to agree on the entrenchment of the regionality and homogeneity of Gozo in the Constitution of Malta. As a result, Gozo would have to be considered on its own merits by the Electoral Commission.

In the meantime, the Ministry of Gozo will, with all probability and with immediate effect, be renamed the Ministry of Gozo minus Ghajnsielem or, better still, the Ministry of Estranged Gozo.

The Gozitans are clamouring with their politicians. Where is Minister Giovanna Debono on this matter? Where is Frederick Azzopardi, elected on behalf of the PN that promised to declare Gozo a region? Where are Dr Anton Refalo and Dr Justyne Caruana, elected on behalf of the Labour Party, but, we fully hope, with Gozitan interests in their heart? Will Speaker Anton Tabone, who is partially silenced by the position he occupies, come out of this imposed silence?

We wait and see and will then reach our conclusions.