Against turkey (not the country)

What are your reactions to the change of the Maltese member of the EU Commission, the repercussions of which have raised the greatest din in the local political world in these last weeks of the year?

My greatest concern is that Malta will not miss out badly in developments of the EU's holistic marine policy. I have no particular insight into the reasons for the Prime Minister's decisions or ways of communicating them. I hope, however, that some appropriate role will be found to enable us to continue to benefit from the special mastery of sea-related matters that Joe Borg has acquired.

At the EU seminar held within the course on regional ocean governance which took place at the University last week, it was suggested by a deputy secretary general of the United Nations that a post of Ombudsman on Marine Affairs, the setting up of which has been mooted, would be ideally filled by our present Commissioner.

I find it sad that while Malta has been excellently propounding the need for holistic marine policies at world and continental levels, and successfully convincing such heavy-moving bodies as the UN and the EU to adopt them, it still does not have such a policy at national level.

We do not yet even have a minister or a specialised officer close to the Prime Minister truly responsible for the co-ordination of the notoriously conflicting uses of our marine space (for instance, fish-farming and tourism).

In fact, during the seminar, the international students, who had been exposed to the handling of marine spatial planning tools by experts, brought out several cases where significant economic benefit could be obtained through more rational planning of the uses both of marine space around Malta and of the littoral.

Marine policy at the EU is still going to be guided by a Commissioner from the Mediterranean, but it has become even more imperative that there be high-level co-ordination of all our sea-related interests locally now that we no longer have the privilege of a Maltese Commissioner responsible for DG Mare.

Is not DG Sanco (Health and Consumer Affairs) now also covering such matters as pharmaceuticals and animal welfare generally considered to be a weightier responsibility?

Undoubtedly, but it may be less directly relevant to individual Maltese interests. What I devoutly hope for is that the social policy portfolio upon which John Dalli had by now established a firm grip, will not again have to go through a long period of familiarisation by a new minister.

You know that for 20 years I have been lamenting that the policy for health laid out in the PN electoral programme, which basically held that top priority would be given to preventive and primary care, has not been fulfilled.

This failure is, of course, largely responsible for the continuing problems of Mater Dei Hospital, which still has to deal with too many cases that should be better handled in the community.

Mr Dalli has come out with pertinent proposals, although I regret that he felt bound to introduce the means-testing that I and the collaborators that had been appointed to work with me in the summer of 1987 on the family doctor scheme had made it a principle to avoid.

Unfortunately, it seems nobody had seriously sought to apply the scheme, mainly because of the attitude of some doctors at that time influential within the PN.

They had seemed determined to prove that Dom Mintoff was right in holding that their strike action had not been really caused by the obligations he wanted to place on newly-qualified doctors. It was rather prompted by fear of the introduction of a family doctor scheme.

Now, criticism of Mr Dalli's scheme has been voiced notably by Jean Pierre Farrugia, a much-admired Nationalist MP.

In my opinion, even more urgent action is required in another area of social policy. Recently, there has been the case of a young girl who has been sent to prison for killing her mother.

I cannot believe that anyone can expect her punishment to prove medicinal. There are unfortunately a growing number of similar cases. Malta (and even more Gozo) must be able to provide decent shelter and trained personnel to deal with youngsters whose parents are for some reason found to be unable to care for them.

Incidentally, the Church in Malta has often stepped in to fill gaps in the social service system of the State, especially when the service requires extreme and exceptional dedication, as in the case of Dar tal-Providenza.

I think it would be appropriate for the Church to review the social services it is providing, including education.

There has occurred both a serious diminution of the personnel it has available and a massive change in the demands for the kind of service that requires not only skill but also spirit to be delivered.

Perhaps the Church might even actually give up running some services that can easily be taken over by the State in order to be able to place scarce human resources on exacting tasks that are at present simply not being tackled at all.

In the light of these and the other problems confronting us, can you suggest some fitting way in which to celebrate Christmas this year?

One might be to ironically substitute bluefin tuna for that foreign fowl importation, the turkey, and to have as the motto inserted in the cracker, a micro-indulgence in our endemic love of fireworks, of Groucho Marx's: These are my principles, if you don't like them I have others.

A very blessed Christmas to all.

Fr Peter Serracino Inglott was talking to Miriam Vincenti.