Tunisian State visit

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi arrived in Malta for a two-day State visit where he held talks with President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Opposition leader Adrian Delia. During his visit Mr Essebsi addressed the Malta-Tunisia Business Forum and a conference entitled ‘Empowering Gender Equality’. In an interview with the Times of Malta prior to arriving in Malta, the Tunisian President said he believed there was an opportunity for the Maltese private sector for the recruitment of skilled and qualified Tunisian youths.

What made the headlines

40-week waiting time at Mater Dei outpatients: Lengthy waiting times for outpatient appointments were singled out by the European Commission, with a new report saying Maltese were waiting an average of 40 weeks for a first appointment at the national hospital.

Olaf asked to probe SVDP ‘corruption’: Reports of alleged abuse of EU public procurement rules in the provision of multi-million direct orders for cleaning contracts at St Vincent De Paul have reached Brussels in a formal request for an investigation, the Times of Malta revealed. Sources in Brussels confirmed to the newspaper that a number of documents claiming abuse were sent anonymously to the President of the European Commission Jean Claude Junker and also to OLAF, the EU’s anti-fraud office.

Terrorists shoot dead Maltese port manager in Somalia: Gunmen from the terrorist group Al-Shabaab shot dead a Maltese port manager in Somalia on Monday morning. Paul Anthony Formosa, 52, from Marsascala, was killed in Bosaso Port, in the semi-autonomous Puntland state, where he worked at P&O Ports, a subsidiary of the Dubai-based global operator DP World, from August 2017. One of the gunmen was shot dead by security forces, while the second was captured after having been injured while trying to escape. Unconfirmed media reports say the second killer later died in captivity. Mr Formosa worked at the Malta Freeport until 2011 before taking up the post of operations manager at Lattakia in Syria. Al-Shabaab the killing was “part of broader operations targeting the mercenary companies that loot the Somali resources”.

Church fund to tackle inequality: A new Church fund, the Voluntary Solidarity Fund, will help tackle the growing economic inequality on the island, Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Galea Curmi announced. Former Central Bank Governor Josef Bonnici, who will oversee the new fund, said the fund will focus on helping get people back on their feet through interest-free loans for business start-ups, training and further education.

Mobile classrooms as State schools can’t cope: Children in some State schools may have to attend lessons in mobile classrooms because no more space is available to accommodate increasing student populations, the Times of Malta revealed. Sources said the “growing crisis” hitting the State education system led to arrangements being made to install mobile classrooms at St Paul’s Bay primary and Żejtun’s secondary schools as from next academic year.

Ministers should not invite only selected journalists: Inviting selected journalists to events attended by ministers did not amount to good practice and should be discouraged, the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life, George Hyzler, said in his first decision. Dr Hyzler was responding to a complaint made by the Times of Malta last November that Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi failed to inform it and, possibly, other media houses, about an event at the Malta Film Commission where he gave interviews only to One News and PBS.

Malta’s freedom ranking downgraded: Malta’s freedom ranking has again been downgraded by Freedom House, a Washington-based democracy monitor, with researchers blaming the “inefficacy of the country’s anti-corruption institutions”. According to its latest report Malta’s score dropped one point to 91 out of 100. The country’s score has been on a downward trend for the past couple of years, dropping to 92 points in 2018 from 96 in the previous year.

PN leader proposes ‘stalwarts’ for President: PN leader Adrian Delia has proposed three Nationalist ‘stalwarts’ for the post of President, the Times of Malta revealed, namely Lawrence Gonzi, Tonio Borg and Louis Galea. Press reports, however have indicated that former Labour minister George Vella will be President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca’s likely successor.

New Corinthia deal ‘in coming days’: A draft deed proposing to give the Corinthia Group the right to use public land for speculation purposes was temporarily withdrawn. Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi told Chris Fearne, chairman of the parliamentary National Audit Office Accounts Committee, that a new draft deed would be submitted “in the coming days”. The original draft was met with harsh criticism by the Opposition and business community. Sources said the government was seeking ‘legal avenues’ to rewrite the deal, avoiding State aid complications.

What trended

Church attendance

Church attendance levels have reached historic lows and are set to fall even further, a census released recently suggests.

Coming just days after statistics indicated that civil marriages have overtaken the number of Church ones, the news came as a tough pill to swallow for parishioners and the faithful.

Readers had several suggestions to make.

“Let me set out a very simple pastoral plan,” suggested Lauren. “It’s the one Jesus used; sell all you have and give to the poor”.

Sell all you have and give to the poor

“The Church must move with the times,” argued John, who called for women and married people to be allowed to become priests. “If the Church does not change some of these restrictive rules, it will keep losing people left and right,” he warned.

But for every John, there was one J.

“A sure recipe for extinction,” he snapped back. “That’s exactly what the Anglican and many protestant denominations did, follow your suggestions to the letter, and they have become as dead as doornails”.

Joseph felt the Church’s response to the critical Mass attendance figures – which involves more assistance to society’s vulnerable – was “altruism gone mad”.

“Ayn Rand would have a lot to say about this,” he wrote.

‘Useless’ 1c and 2c coins

Is it time we bid farewell – or even good riddance? – to 1c and 2c coins?

It’s a question the Times of Malta asked this week, in an article which prompted lively discussion online.

“1 cent is still money, 100 of them are rather significant,” noted Stefania, who suggested a different way of cutting down on coins. “How about €1 and €2 in paper money instead? It would make your purse a whole lot lighter”.

Many others were more keen to ditch the coins, arguing that they were “useless”.

But not everyone was impressed by retailers’ suggestion to round prices up to the nearest 5c.

“If a 4c difference is minimal to the consumer, it should be minimal to retailers too,” argued S.

Charles was also a rounding-up sceptic, saying that while most people would round €1.41 or €1.42 down to €1.40, retailers had different ideas.

“And then they complain that people purchase directly online from abroad,” he muttered.

What they said

“We are nationalists. We do not sell citizenship. We create. We have faith in our people. We are capable of selling services and talent, not our country’s citizenship.”

Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia, speaking at a political activity in Valletta, where he criticised the Maltese government’s sale of passports.

“There is no such thing as an ‘Arab Spring!’”

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, answering a question by the Times of Malta about democracy in the Arab world, and why Tunisia is the only success story of the ‘Arab Spring’.

“Human life is so precious that we wish the very best for the child when it is still in the womb even when it is only a mass of cells. It is not the number cells that determines whether it is a human life or not.”

Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Galea Curmi speaking during Mass at St John’s Co-Cathedral on the occasion of the International Day of Life.

“Malta’s heritage, including Valletta’s landscape, is being destroyed for cursed money. I beg all Maltese, especially the younger generations, to remain attached to our rich cultural heritage.”

Archbishop Charles Scicluna speaking during the launch of a book on a collection of 18th century statues adorning the Mdina Metropolitan Cathedral museum.

“Bottom line: when I said that Konrad Mizzi is corrupt, I was damn right.”

Former PN leader Simon Busuttil standing by his accusations of corruption against Konrad Mizzi as the minister dropped libel cases against him and other MPs and the Times of Malta. The cases related to allegations of money laundering in connection with the Panama Papers.