No special EU status for Gozo - MEP

Mario C Scicluna

Dec 3rd 2009, 22:19

Give them Independence and let them fend for themselves.

Mike Magri

Dec 3rd 2009, 18:54

Guys.. We should all be gratefull to Profs Scicluna for his strong and honest engagement in making sure of Malta and Gozo, getting ALL or the MOST of the Advanages they should get from our EU membership.. Profs Scicluna is a very hard-working professional person and thus it is not that easy for anyone to `take him for a ride`.. In this case, it is really a shame that from the looks of it, it was and still is that, the GonziPN`s Regime which is taking the Gozitans for an `eu roller-coaster Ride`..

Thank you Profs... Keep Up The Good Work... You deserve our appreciation...

J Martinelli

Dec 3rd 2009, 18:40

@ lgalea

So why did sixteen years of Labour rule not produce the bridge when the Shipyards were very much in operation but still losing money?

I know, Mintoff must have been trying to protect Gozo's bajtar tax-xewk (prickly pears) which also made it to Malta's Coat-of-Arms and the famous monument in front of San Lawrenz at Vittoriosa!

John azzopardi

Dec 3rd 2009, 16:43

Why should Gozo enjoy a special status? Do the thousand of Aegean islands enjoy special status? Or other islands belonging to EU member states? I think the Commissions reply is a fair one.

Ray Zammit

Dec 3rd 2009, 16:34

Can the government or the eu representative in malta clarify this matter? Not that I have any doubts from Profs Scicluna, but if know one from the above deny we would have been taken for a ride & the opinion towards the eu will hit low in months to come.

Jeff.Gauchi.Demion( Dual citizen)Can

Dec 3rd 2009, 16:33

Ofcourse no special eu status Malta is more important, Gozo hasen't got much to offer except maybe some archaeological interest to the tourists and a quiet place to have a peaceful nap in the afternoon or the mid-day sun. The place is full of empty half finished properties and a big eye sore for everyone to see, still i think somehow a bridge between the two would be a disaster for the little island where TIME STOOD STILL (maybe until now, who knows the future if a bridge is linked between the two)! True or False?

Raymond Sammut

Dec 3rd 2009, 16:10

@ G Grech

The issue of a bridge connecting the three islands is an old one. I have recollections of when the Maltese government in the seventies invited a Japanese engineering company to provide a design. It all looked good on paper, but the issue always gets bogged down on cost. Not just to build the bridge. Imagine the Maltese government having to spend millions of euros to maintain this bridge on an ongoing basis in order to "bring the Gozitans at par with the Maltese regarding opportunities of work, medical services, etc." It would cost the government a tiny fraction to simply re-locate Gozitans to Malta.

lgalea

Dec 3rd 2009, 15:55

G Grech
A bridge together with a model was put on display in the present foreign office in Merchants street Valletta in the sixties just before an election to get Ghawdxin votes. If I remember correctly it was in two sections. One from Malta to Kemmuna and another from Kemmuna to Ghawdex. Guess what happened to it? The same as all the other PN projects. Re Maltese wanting to keep the Ghawdxin isolated you are wrong. I am sure that the vast majority wants a bridge and it could have been easily built by the Shipyard and saved us money and the Shipyard. But we know there were both PN and eu interests to destroy the Shipyard.

J Farrugia Wakey wakey. Smell the coffee

Albert Attard
That is why the CNI say in their Solemn Declaration http://www.cnimalta.org/edec.html that the Maltese peoples consent was vitiated and not validly procured, because it is a basic principle of law that when one’s consent is obtained by treachery, lies, false promises amounting to fraud, moral violence and threats, one’s consent is vitiated and one has the right to claim not to be bound by the given consent.

G Grech

Dec 3rd 2009, 15:29

@ C Sapiano

When a development where Gozo is going to benefit from is mentioned, enviromentalists roar. A bridge would 'ruin the landscape' but will bring the Gozitans at par with the Maltese regarding opportunities of work, medical services, etc. and will give a great boost to the economic and social development of the smaller island. In that case not to ruin the landscape lets' make a tunnel.

What the Maltese want is to keep Gozo a 'Presepju haj' with us Gozitans as the 'pasturi' driven wherever they want us to be. Unfortunately those who supposedly represent the Gozitans do not put Gozo as a priority but their party. I thus agree with Mr Galea that the great issue where the Gozitan vote should go in the next election is to the party who offers a bridge.

J Farrugia

Dec 3rd 2009, 15:17

Instead of doing his duty and being loyal to his country, this MEP is trying to get political mileage out of this situation. If what he is saying is true then LET'S GET OUT OF EUROPE. This Babylon of EU has really taken us for a ride on several matters of importance to us. I hope that the MFA will answer Profs Scicluna's declaration to clear the air. Is Gozo a special region or is it not? Have we the Maltese people been taken for a ride by the EU?

L. Green

Dec 3rd 2009, 15:11

CSapiano sir if a bridge is build between Malta & Gozo i'll be off like a flash to a distant country, cause Gozo would be ruined and 5000 years or so of history will just disolve to nothing and it will be called malta 2.and that would be a shame to Gozo

Albert Attard

Dec 3rd 2009, 14:49

So the Government and MIC gave false promises to the Gozitan people,to all the Maltese Hunters and Trappers also. That`s something to think about.

C. Sapiano

Dec 3rd 2009, 14:48

A bridge may be useful to some people but I think it could ruin the landscape between the two islands.

Mark Galea

Dec 3rd 2009, 14:30

@Government and opposition.
Declarations on Gozo are useless, both from the government or the opposition. The only thing that could make the difference for Gozo is a bridge ... the rest is utter RUBBISH. Already hundreds travel to Malta for work, so I suggest they vote to the party that supports a bridged ... be it Nationalist or Labour. (I lean towards nationalists but on such an issue, there is no loyalty to ANY party). I suggest the others to do the same.

lgalea

Dec 3rd 2009, 14:20

"The Commission's reply states not only that the declaration is a 'unilateral declaration of Malta' but also that any future analysis of Gozo's economic and social situation will be made in a purely EU context, Prof Scicluna said.

Hasn't this been already said years ago by the CNI?
Doesn't this apply to all the declarations?
The birds are coming home to roost.
Treachery and deceit were and still are the order of the day in the eu.