Ivan Camilleri, Brussels
Brussels has no say in Senglea church clock issue
Tests showed that the sound intrusions from the Senglea church are above the limits established by WHO guidelines.
The European Commission cannot intervene in a judicial protest filed by a Senglea resident alleging that the "loud" chimes of the city's parish clock breach an EU directive - because no such provision exists in EU law.
Through her lawyer Anna Mallia, Senglea resident Anna Spiteri, who lives in close proximity to the church, earlier this month filed a judicial protest in the Maltese courts against Joanna Drake as head of the EU Representation Office in Malta, complaining about the "intolerable and unbearable" chimes of the church clock every 15 minutes.
Ms Spiteri even resorted to the University's faculty of engineering to carry out noise readings from her terrace which found that the sound intrusions are 35 decibels higher than the maximum 55 decibels established by World Health Organisation guidelines.
Ms Spiteri argued that the loud chimes were in breach of the EU directive on noise levels, which provided that Malta ought to have established noise strategic maps by June last year. She claimed that this was not done and the European Commission failed to take any action. The judicial protest was also filed against Archpriest Joe Grech, Archbishop Paul Cremona, the chairman of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority and the Environment Minister.
A Commission official in Brussels said that the judicial protest against the Commission failed to hold water on a number of counts.
"First of all there is no EU directive that applies to this specific case. There are no decibel levels allowed by EU directives and in fact the protester did not indicate in her judicial protest what EU directive is being breached.
The only applicable legislation in this area is Directive 2002/49/EC relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise which, however, does not set any limit values at national level," the official in the Environment Directorate said.
The same official said that Maltese lawyers must also bear in mind that the Commission cannot be summoned before national courts.
"Basic knowledge of EU legislation states that the EU institutions can only be seized in front of the European Court of Justice. This applies to any case related to the EU institutions, including similar judicial protests filed recently against the Commission in front of the Maltese courts over tuna quotas."
The EU official said neither the Commission in Brussels nor its representation office in Malta had ever received any complaints from Ms Spiteri over this issue.
Normal EU procedure in similar cases is to register an official complaint before the EU institutions, particularly the Commission so that they can be investigated.
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MT Caruana
Sep 2nd 2008, 14:41
@ Adrian.Cardona & Franco Farrugia:
This story has been going on for months now, first the Church bells, now the Church clock.
Regarding me thanking Brussels, you are free to twist and turn my lines as you wish, I have no problem with that.
What matters to me is that our CULTURE remains the same as it has been from ages ago.
And the so called traditions, ‘ noisy, dirty smelly and intrusive’…..rest your mind you are not referring to SENGLEA !!
Christian Calleja
Sep 1st 2008, 18:10
The simple fact that the measurements are quoted against the WHO levels does not make much of a case. Considering that this event is happening every 15 minutes it goes to show that it is both a disturbance and a nuisance. This year Malta, being MEPA or otherwise, was meant to have developed a noise map of the island and to additionally lay down the mitigation measures it was meant to take according to such noise map. Ms. Spiteri could have easily opened a local case against the church. It is not uncommon in other parts of europe where such cases have occured. 'Every 15 minutes' introduces a different factor into the story far more different than the levels as quoted!
Chris Calleja
Acoustician
Franco Farrugia
Sep 1st 2008, 13:52
@ Ms Caruana - Does everything that happens in Malta have to be measured in terms of: either politics or FEASTS? What does the Feast have to do with it?
@ Mr V Caruana - I appreciate your sense of history and also the fact that the chiming of the clock of a parish church may be termed as 'traditional': however, is it so indispensable to chime every quarter of an hour during the night?????? I find absolutely nothing wrong with a church clock chiming the quarter-hours; but perhaps, a little bit of reasoned give-and-take is in order.
Obviously, every person in Malta who goes to live next to a church knows what s/he is in for! But the same could be said for fireworks factories. ... in that one has to adapt to modern times and if we find that some things should not work the way they worked before, then, perhaps, one should sit down and reflect about making some amendment, rather than stupidly holding on to what is 'traditional'.
J Farrugia
Sep 1st 2008, 08:00
It's disgraceful the way some people try to obliterate all our way of life and other traditions which make us proud of being Maltese and not the whimpers of some.......... Always the same people grumbling about this or that and experts in everything from cats to mice. From God to Belzebub.
Edward Zammit
Aug 31st 2008, 23:19
@ Adrian Cardona
With all due respect we are a typical mediterranean people, if you look even to our neighbours who make part of the Med coast (even in Europe). You will notice that all are as you say, "noisy, dirty, smelly, and intrusive". If you want Russian or German discipline go there by all means but we already have a beautiful culture of our own, and don't need anybody else's.
V.Caruana
Aug 31st 2008, 21:09
@ Franco Farrugia
Mr.Farrugia, for your information, the Senglea Parish Church clock was there from the first time the Church was built, many years before you and everybody who is commenting was born. But it happened that when the Church was hit during the war the clock stopped. When the church was built after the war and reopened in 1957, THE CLOCK WORKED FOR ABOUT 10 YEARS, and chimed every quarter of an hour like today DAY AND NIGHT, and not from 6.00am till 11.00pm. (And I know because I was one of the Boys who used to go up in the clock room to wind it).
Then some damage occured. And as there was important work of decorations inside the church to be done it was left to rot. And after the said works inside the church was done, the magority of the people of Senglea told the Archpriest that now it is time that we have the church clock working once again.
And it came as a present for the church. And lastly I ask : If you receive a present you see what it is and if it is usefull use it. No?
J.M. Chapelle
Aug 31st 2008, 20:39
Well, this woman has neighbours does she not?
Have any of those complained? Have any of her neighbours conducted university-level tests in their vicinity to the church? If not, will are they annoyed and will do so in due course, or is Anna Spiteri really just 1 against the world?
And what came first, the Church or Ms. Spiteri?
Lots of plot holes!
Mark Cutajar
Aug 31st 2008, 15:34
Well , I suppose the next step is a supply of cotton wool paid for the parish priest of course!
Adrian Cardona
Aug 31st 2008, 14:57
@Dorothy Caruana
What is your point in thanking Brussels? If they have no say in the matter what have they done to you? Are you one of those Brussels-will-destroy-our-traditions-blablabla?! Sometimes I wish they would, because most of our so-called traditions are noisy, dirty, smelly, intrusive and just an excuse to disturb others.
D Camilleri
Aug 31st 2008, 14:43
Arch Grech, if the noise is nearly double the safe limit established by the World Health Organisation, why cant you just muffle the noise, if possible?
This is clearly not about grumpy people complaing, its about someone's health.
Maybe a little sense and compassion.
MT Caruana
Aug 31st 2008, 11:43
What a nice way to start celebrating our feast of SENGLEA.
Thank you Brussels.
Franco Farrugia
Aug 31st 2008, 11:08
Can common sense previal, on this issue?
If it is a modern clock, as I understand it is, can it be modified in such a way as to only chime the hours from sunset to dawn? Obviously, some traditional church clocks cannot be thus modified - understandable.
During the daytime, could it perhaps be modified to chime the hours and the half-hours, to avoid people grumbling about it?
While I appreciate the beauty of having a proper church clock which chimes real bells (rather than articifial, recorded ones!), one has to bear in mind that Ms Spiteri started living in her house BEFORE the church clock - is it possible that the Senglea Basilica never had a chiming church clock before??