A deafening silence

When Malta signed the Accession Treaty with the European Union it very wisely included a declaration on the island region of Gozo. In it, the government of Malta "Declares that, before the end of each Community budgetary period entailing a redefinition of the Community regional policy, Malta will request that the Commission report to the Council on the economic and social status of Gozo and, in particular, on the disparities in the social and economic development levels between Gozo and Malta.

The Commission would be asked to propose appropriate measures, as required, in the framework of the Community's regional policy or other relevant Community policies, to ensure the continuation of the reduction of disparities between Gozo and Malta as well as the further integration of Gozo into the internal market on fair conditions. In particular, in the event that Malta, as a whole, would no longer be eligible to certain measures of the regional policy, the report would assess whether the specific economic situation of Gozo justifies a continued eligibility of Gozo to those measures, and under which conditions, during the reference period".

As a consequence of this declaration, during 2006 (before the end of the last EU budgetary period and before the start of the 2007-2013 one) a request was made by the government to the Commission for it to report to the Council in terms of the Treaty of Accession declaration quoted above. This is, no doubt, a very important document as it purports to give a snapshot of Gozo's economic and social status and, more importantly, to highlight the disparities in the development levels between Gozo and Malta in the social and economic spheres. It would also request the Commission to propose measures to reduce these disparities and to further integrate Gozo into the internal market.

Clearly, this document, which the Maltese government has submitted to the European Commission, is of vital importance to the development process in Gozo. Likewise, the consequent report of the Commission to the European Council. Finally, any decision on this report by the Council has an enormous significance to the future development of Gozo within the regional folds of the European Union during the next seven years.

As the texts of these documents have not, as far as I am aware, been published, and being aware of the European Union's policy of full disclosure and transparency, I embarked on what turned out to be a long and arduous task of gaining access to them. I have tapped all possible sources and during these last three months I have been sent from pillar to post to gain access to the text of these important documents.

Finally, two ministries have directed me to the Ministry for Gozo. These are the Office of the Prime Minister (Planning Priorities Directorate) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Forum Malta fl-Ewropa). With a sigh of relief I thought that my search was finally over. However, it is unbelievable that requests to the Ministry for Gozo by both ministries on my behalf have produced no results. Apart from these requests, repeated e-mail queries by me to the Ministry for Gozo have remained unanswered; I have not received the courtesy of an acknowledgement, let alone a satisfactory reply.

Faced with this blank wall one can only draw the conclusion that the Ministry for Gozo is unwilling or unable to disclose these reports which are of utmost importance to Gozo. Gozo deserves to have these reports published. Prospective investors, Gozo civil society, Gozo business bodies and the press need these documents.

I earnestly appeal to the Minister for Gozo to break this deafening silence and commit these documents to public domain as a matter of urgency. She owes it to the electorate to make them public, if for no other reason, to demonstrate to the people of Gozo that her ministry has made full use of the Declaration on Gozo, ably negotiated prior to membership and now proudly enshrined in the Treaty of Accession.

francomasini@gmail.com