Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/929711
19 maltatoday SUNDAY 21 JANUARY 2018 Opinion I t is bad enough that we live in a microscopic country, on an Island where everyone knows each other and privacy is impossible. And what's worse is that most of our children dream of leaving this island, for good. Ask them why and surely it is not for a monetary reason. They are disturbed with the ugliness, the stuffiness and the pettiness all around us. I love my country, and I love being Maltese but I am saddened by the political class that has repeatedly shafted this country because of its ill-thought policies. What is happening today is no different from what happened under other prime ministers, who all shared the same deficient EQ on how their country looked. OK, the effort in making Malta a beautiful showcase for suburbia and sprucing up Malta's look is noticeable and welcome. But beyond our cities we need to preserve our open natural spaces. The loopholes purposely created in our planning laws, to allow for easier development and higher development, are only serving to change the texture of Malta and Gozo. And let us face it, the situation is indeed desperate here. It is not because we do not know what the problem is: it is simply because the politicians (or shall we say the Prime Minister?) are unwilling to take action on this front. I have no political agenda here, and the last thing on my mind is to ruffle the feathers of the political dominance of the Labour administration. Not that supremacy is healthy, but I still think that this country deserves Muscat. More so than an ex-football president who has not yet paid his €80,000 tax bill and who is surely no Joan of Arc. At this point in time I'd much rather do what politicians hate most: not voting at all. I know for sure that the only language they understand is the vote. The problem here is that Muscat may well have reneged on this, considering that he has already declared he will leave before this second term is up. This is a country that has seen outrageous planning permits being dished out, over the ages. The latest excuse by Joseph Muscat is that this relaxation in planning has allowed for an economic boom. At what cost? The truth is that the likes of Sandro Chetcuti have more influence on what Muscat decides for the nation than the normal people who have no voice, no party and are lumped with high-rise around them whether they live in Zebbug, Gzira, Naxxar or Qala. The likes of Sandro Chetcuti with their egoism, their mission in painting the construction lobby as angels, their demands for quick profits by selling boxes of concrete and screwing our townscapes mean more to Muscat, who regards anyone who opposes this philosophy as some "extremist". The truth is that very ordinary people who have nothing but common sense about them, who are not on social media penning repetitive missals against capitalism, think that we have now gone far too far. They are against a petrol station on the Mgarr road and think that it is a bloody mess, that the flats that are sprouting on the Mellieha bypass or on the road from Mosta to Mġarr are simply unacceptable. That the attitude of planners and decision-makers is simply insensitive to what happens next. And that this economic policy promulgated just right now, which holds that if it makes money then it is OK, is not to be simply accepted as is. We have an economic vision which has no brakes in the system, no one to tell it that there are limits to the attitude by politicians who think that anyone who opposes this strategy is a reactionary, a jerk, a loser or a gloom and doom dork. It is high time to say that to #saveourcountryside is necessary and cool. That driving a flashy 60K car and getting stuck in a traffic jam is not the greatest thing on earth and that towering flats with bespoke interiors, glass partitions lined with bright silver aluminium and rectangular designs overlooking regiments of homes and concrete blocks are not the most exhilarating of life experiences. That making money is not the only thing in life. Today, the Prime Minister will address a posse of Labour followers and the theme of his speech will be 'the next generation'. If he is talking of the next generation of Maltese and Gozitans whom he expects to live in this country I have to tell him fairly and squarely that at this rate, the next generation of Maltese will be living in a repugnantly overly-built country. This country is too small to experience the construction spree that he, as prime minister, longs for. Malta can never be a Singapore, unless we turn our people into a servile population in an autocratic state ranked at lowly 175 when it comes to freedoms. Life is about feeling good. Which is why I concur completely that the events in Valletta and the transformations there are worthy of everyone's praise. I disagree with the doomsday talk of some in the artistic and political world. Needless to say, the same applies to those who opted to boycott the event, not that it will make a difference. I am referring here to the decision of Claudio Grech, whom I have great respect for. We need more investment in the way things look, because it makes people feel that their environs belong to them. But it should not stop with our historical centres, it should spread out into our green belts, our shorelines, our valleys, bays and the sea. We have to come together and shout out loud. Shout out loud that we cannot tolerate more billboards on country roads. Shout out loud that the height policy must change. Shout out loud that there must be an end to petrol stations and that ODZ is ODZ. Shout out loud that we are not tree-huggers but normal people who simply love our country so much so that we intend to live and die here in this little Malta. We are here to stay, not run away, and we want Muscat to hear our words and this time round we want him to take us seriously, because this is not about being Labourite or being Nationalist or something else, but about being livid and angry with regard to this political irreverence and insensitivity. Make #saveourcountryside your campaign. Not mine, not theirs, but yours. Start this little campaign and go for it. @saviourbalzan Saviour Balzan is Managing Editor of the Mediatoday Group Saviour Balzan #saveourcountryside I would like to receive the newspaper MaltaToday for a period of one year. Name & Surname .................................................................. Telephone: ........................................ Address ...................................................................................... E-mail: ........................................ FOR €94 YOU CAN RECEIVE THE MALTATODAY, FOR A PERIOD OF ONE YEAR. Send a cheque payable to MediaToday to: Subscriptions, MediaToday, Vjal il-Rihan, San Gwann, SGN 9016 The newspapers are delivered by post and therefore subject to the usual postal timings. Normally, MaltaToday should arrive on Monday. 14 15 10 11 Newspaper post maltatoday today today SUNDAY • 14 JANUARY 2018 • ISSUE 949 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY Analysis of PQs confirms that commercial sensitivity cited more under Labour Worst flu season ever, doctors say See page 3 YOUR FIRST READ AND CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT €1.75 INTERVIEW Joe Perici Calascione The FKNK president explains why he wants a fair deal for the hunters' lobby Sales agreement between Steward and Vitals entered in mid-December Teachers deceived over promised pay rise KURT SANSONE TEACHERS are fuming since most teaching grades will be getting less than half the promised pay increase suppos- edly agreed upon between their union and the government. After being kept in the dark over the details of the sectoral agreement signed on 21 December, educators were sur- prised to learn that the new allowances structure would only lead to an increase of between 11% and 12% over the five- year period. Billed as a historic agreement, details were revealed online by MaltaToday last Friday, leading to a barrage of dis- appointment in various online forums for teachers and learning support assis- tants. Educators who spoke to this newspa- per said they were deceived. They had been asked by their union to respond to an online consultation last December that asked them whether they agreed with the prop o s e d increases. SIGNS that Vitals Global Healthcare had serious issues in not raising the capital to fi- nance their operation was evi- denced by severe problems in paying suppliers. The agree- ment allowing Vitals a 30-year concession was heavily criti- cised in the media for the lack of transparency on the matter. MaltaToday can confirm that talks between the American health company and Vitals kicked off months ago and in mid-December both sides en- tered into a sales agreement. The two sides have appointed a committee to look into the pending liabilities and Stew- ard has agreed to settle these. The hospital concession agreements with Vitals Glob- al Healthcare to run the Gozo and Karin Grech hospitals would have cost taxpayers more than €40 million this year. It was announced with much pomp and enthusiasm by the Muscat administra- tion but the whole project has fallen f lat on its face just two years after it started. A de- bate on the transfer will take place on Wednesday. According to the financial estimates in Budget 2018, the government will be paying the private company €28.2 mil- lion for the running of the Gozo general hospital. 6 PAUL COCKS AS negotiations with ALPA, the pi- lots' union, remain at a standstill, sources close to the negotiations have told MaltaToday that time is running out for Air Malta to con- clude a deal. This newspaper is informed that Air Malta has offered its pilots a package that will see first officers' salaries increase by an average of €72,392 over a five-year period, while the average increase for a captain would be €105,600. Furthermore, arrears of €6,000 have been offered to each pilot for the expired period of the collective agreement between January 2016 and December 2017. The company has also guaranteed the immediate promotion of ten First Officers to Captains in 2018 and 2019, with a further 15 promotions planned over the subsequent three years. The company has stressed that the offer is its final one but it ap- pears that a significant segment of the pilots are still unwilling to fly longer hours in exchange for the increases offered by the company. Earlier this week, the government announced that it had set up a new company, which would also be seeking to obtain an Air Operating Licence (AOC). The government has said that the move was intended to protect Air Malta's lucrative airport slots, but the sources said it could also serve as a contingency plan in the eventuality that an agreement is not reached with Air Malta's pilots over their working conditions. "The minister had said that all collective agreements needed to be signed by the end of 2017 but realistically, the airline will start to face significant difficulties once the new scheduled routes planned for 2018 start," the sources said. Financing the airline would also be difficult unless all employee sec- tions agreed to a new collective agreement. PG 6 New airline, if pilot talks fail As Air Malta continues talks with its pilots over a new collective agreement, a new airline being set up by the government could provide it with a fall-back option, should an agreement remain elusive Vitals faced cash flow issues and could not pay suppliers with the SEE BACK PAGE SUBSCRIPTION FORM