I refer to the article Departure Tax Removal A Victory For Citizens' Rights (June 27) where, alongside others, my (36 word) petition to the European Parliament Committee on Petitions was cited as having been instrumental in forcing this government to announce its intention to abolish the flight departure tax, whose continued imposition since Malta's accession to the EU has been deemed illegal by the European Commission.
Simon Busuttil, seemingly obsessed with peddling spurious GonziPN illusions in order to camouflage his own inconsequential function in this matter, was reported to have characterised it as a "victory for Maltese citizens' rights in the EU", but if that is the case, it has, to date, been a highly qualified one.
Quite apart from the conspicuous absence of any plans to revoke the maritime departure tax, the contentious question of refunds has not yet been adequately addressed, still less settled, by the government.
However, I can confirm that this source of intense resentment has already been formally registered with the European Parliament Committee on Petitions, as the following extract, from a supplementary submission recently appended to my departure tax petition, attests:
"...In respect of petition no. 299/2005 regarding the infringement of European Union law as set out in directives regulating freedom of movement and provision of services of member state citizens, I would like to submit the following for the attention of the Committee on Petitions:
"Departure Tax: Fact And Fiction, by Arnold Cassola, Swieqi (The Times, February 28, 2008).
'Simon Busuttil has recently written about the (in)famous departure tax.
'It would be good to remind the public that within days of the announcement of the increase in the departure tax in the budget speech of 2004, Alternattiva Demokratika - The Green Party alerted the European Commission to the illegality of this provision.
'Moreover, AD's key input from the very outset was demonstrable by virtue of its petitions section on empowering Maltese and Gozitan citizens to invoke their rights at EU level and formally register their objections to various EU infringements, including the departure tax, an option many exercised.
'Dr Busuttil declares that over the last three and a half years he has "written no less than four times about departure tax" (Departing Tax, February 20). Unfortunately, this is not enough for Dr Busuttil to be able to claim specious credit for the tardy resolution of the departure tax issue, now the subject of EU legal procedures, and precipitated by an illegality committed by the governing PN of which he is a public exponent.
'Dr Busuttil would be well advised at this juncture to candidly address the following question raised by Robert G. Coenen, (Taxes And The European Court, February 23), regarding PN electoral manifesto "promises": "Would this also include the individual repayment of the 'illegal' departure tax, going back to 2004?"
'The Maltese electorate is entitled to an answer.'
(Arnold Cassola's letter ends).
"Could the committee please make an assurance that even in the event of its abolition, this illegality not be permitted to pay nor be seen (as a precedent) to do so with impunity, and that the only tenable remedy is for the EU to enforce retrospective refunds, with interest, to all aggrieved Maltese and resident non-Maltese EU citizens since its imposition?
"I trust this supplementary data will facilitate the committee in formulating an effective ethical stance."
(Extract from submission ends).
Invoking the caption "Proof the EU works!", coined by Petitions Committee member Dr Busuttil, I not only challenge his weak, defeatist conclusion that "the Maltese authorities may therefore refrain from refunding the tax that has already been paid" (July 2), but earnestly urge fellow citizens to likewise assert their EU rights.
Having availed of the European Parliament Committee on Petitions web link: (https://www.secure.europarl.europa.eu/parliament/public/petition/secured/submit.do?language=EN).
I recommend this easy, free-of-charge online means to those who wish to directly file their own petitions in this regard, or indeed, in respect of any issue where they perceive a conflict between Maltese and European Union law.