Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1032158
NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 26 SEPTEMBER 2018 2 MATTHEW VELLA THE former head of Malta's European Parliament office has refuted sugges- tions of having any influence on opera- tions in the Valletta office, since being seconded to the role of speechwriter to EP president Antonio Tajani. Peter Agius, now a candidate for MEP for the Nationalist Party, denied sug- gestions made by Labour candidate for MEP Alex Saliba linking him to the MEP delegations to Malta that have been in- vestigated alleged breaches of rule of law. On Facebook, Saliba denied having written in his It-Torca newspaper col- umn that Agius "controls" the EP office, but the suggestion was enough for Agius to call the allegations "nonsense". Saliba wrote of his doubts about the impartiality of the EP office in its role in assisting MEP delegations and said it was "an open secret" that the office was "overtaken" by people working to sup- port the Nationalist Party's political ef- forts. Saliba was referring to the visit of a LIBE delegation that was intended to focus on the European Asylum Support Office, and also to a fact-finding mission on NGO vessels currently being held by Maltese authorities. "This fact-finding mission did not hear both sides of the story and I believe that the Maltese au- thorities should have also provided their views." When MaltaToday asked Agius whether he denied suggestions that he influenced the EP office's decisions on MEPs' missions to Malta, the PN candi- date replied that the EP office has been led by someone else – currently an act- ing head – since August 2017. He had already left the office in February 2017 to work with Tajani. "The office has always been led with impartiality and full professionality, now and when I was head. Saliba could have asked his colleagues, such as former MEP Joseph Muscat, as well as Miriam Dalli, Marlene Mizzi and Alfred Sant. It's the second time Saliba is firing from the hip," Agius said. Saliba later told MaltaToday he stands by his comments about the European Parliament Information Office in Malta. "I believe that this Office's role should be to primarily act as a bridge between this directly elected Institution and Malta, its citizens, its authorities and the various stakeholders. If this Office truly wanted to fulfill its obligations and act as an honest broker between this delega- tion of the European Parliament and the citizens, it would have advised the MEPs to meet with all concerned parties in- volved in this case. For the politicians to be able to make an informed judgement, the Office's assistance to help the del- egation get its facts straight is of utmost importance. "If the delegation did not want to meet all the involved parties, then the Office should expose its sheer impartiality, after all, its prime loyalty should be to- wards the citizens. However, unless the Office publishes a statement to this ef- fect, it would clearly mean that the Of- fice did not fulfil its obligation." The last delegation – made up of chair Sophia in 't Veld (ALDE), Nationalist Party MEP Roberta Metsola, and MEPs Josef Weidenholzer (S&D), Monica Ma- covei (ECR) and Sven Giegold (Greens) – was in Malta on 18 and 19 September to investigate the state of rule of law in Malta. The comment also comes after Labour MEP Miriam Dalli complained that civil society NGOs selected for a recent working group of MEPs on rule of law had "a set narrative [that] was not rep- resentative of the Maltese population" and that other names put forward to the MEPs, which include PN MEP Roberta Metsola, were discarded. Miriam Dalli criticised the group's visit, saying that names known for their impartial take on Malta, were discarded by the MEP organisers. "I would have expected that proposed names that could have brought some type of bal- ance would have been included. Yet for some reason these were objected to. As far as I am concerned, a selection of peo- ple that the working group is speaking to is heavily skewed with a clear agenda against the Maltese government and does not allay in any way my fears that the working group is coming to Malta and basing itself on facts." MEP candidate says suggestion he 'controls' EP office in Malta is nonsense CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "I wish I was understood bet- ter…but if I am not understood, I will not be conditioned by criticism," an unfazed Axiak told MaltaToday when asked for his reaction to criticism on the social media. He insists that he was "never inhibited" by any criticism. Back in 2016 Axiak was absent in board meetings where the PA approved towers in Town- square in Sliema and in Mriehel as he was recovering from sur- gery. But on that occasion in a memo sent to the board he in- dicated that he would have vot- ed against both projects includ- ing the Mriehel towers project which reached a maximum of 19 storeys and are located far from residential areas. But Axi- ak denies any inconsistency. "I also voted in favour of 32-storey high Mercury house tower which is also located in the Paceville area. I would have voted against the Mriehel tow- er because this is located in an area where no high-rise devel- opment presently exists and I was concerned that this will not blend in the area." ERA itself did not object to the db project in a report is- sued in June. But its approval of the project was conditional on strict monitoring of works on the Harq Hammiem cave and the development of an un- derlying road network tunnel to avert congestion on existing junctions resulting from 7,000 new daily car trips, and to mini- mise the impact on air quality. Asked whether he was satis- fied by the brief letter of com- mitment issued by Transport Minister Ian Borg which lacked any timeframes for the con- struction of the tunnel, Axiak replied that this was one of many issues which had been addressed. Axiak is particularly satisfied by measures taken to safeguard the Harq il-Hammiem cave. "I repeatedely asked the Plan- ning Directorate whether all the conditions imposed by ERA had been included in the permit. If the answer was no I would have voted against. But since these were included I had no choice but to vote yes." Asked why he felt the need to praise the developers' consult- ants during the meeting, Axiak replied that this reflected real- ity. One case in point was that the developers had changed plans for the location of reverse osmosis outfall in the beach to ensure that water is discharged further away from the shore. "The assessment process was undertaken properly and was constantly double checked by the ERA board which includes professionals." Axiak also claims that ecologi- cal concerns raised by NGOs like Graffitti in the meeting be- fore the project's approval had been duly followed up by ERA. Still while ERA focused on ecological impacts, residents were also concerned by the shading of the project on their homes and by the visual impact of the project. Was he not so concerned about these impacts of the project? Axiak replies that he "under- stands the emotions" of resi- dents, while contending that "visual impact" is an inevitable consequence of high-rise devel- opment and its impact depends on the context where it is lo- cated. Axiak also insists that dur- ing the marathon session ob- jectors failed to raise any new issue which had not been ad- dressed by the board. One issue brought up during the meeting by activist Claire Bonello was related to plans to develop a beach concession in breach of local plan policies which preclude such develop- ment. Although ERA had pre- viously objected to sun-deck- ing facilities when these were proposed in other projects, Axiak insists that in this case the decking facilities will be of a "temporary and demount- able nature". ERA boss claims he is 'misunderstood' Graffitti's Andre Callus described Victor Axiak's attitude as 'pathetic'