Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1053035
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 18 NOVEMBER 2018 NEWS Opera onal Programme I – European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020 "Fostering a compe ve and sustainable economy to meet our challenges" Project part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund Co-financing rate: 80% European Union; 20% Na onal Funds The Energy and Water Agency within the Ministry of Energy and Water Management in collaboration with Enemalta and Transport Malta is undertaking a project for the retrofitting of over 3,000 existing SON type street lights covering 79.6 km of arterial and distributor roads with more energy efficient LED type street lights together with the installation of a light management system. ERDF.PA4.0066 RETROFITTING ROAD AND STREET LIGHTING BY SMART LIGHTING The project's energy efficiency measures are aimed at reducing the carbon footprint produced by the generation of electricity for street lighting, as well as contributing towards the reduction of primary and end energy consumption. Greenhouse Gas Emissions shall also see an annual reduction in excess of 600 tonnes through the implementation of the project and a decrease of approximately 1,500 MWh annual primary energy consumption. This project is part-financed by the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund – European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "If someone like Simon Busut- til is toying with a last-minute candidature for Europe, it could be a sign of things to come." Grech is viewed with both appraisal and concern by PN insiders who think the politi- cal commentator is becoming a possible reference point for PN supporters who have not warmed up to Adrian Delia. "Grech is a valid prospect to enter politics, but his refusal to commit to a candidature – he had already turned down Si- mon Busuttil's offer to run in the general election – is also of concern," one aide who spoke to this newspaper said. "We think some factions close to Busuttil might see him as leadership material if a chal- lenge had to ever materialise." Busuttil yesterday reiterated his intention to focus on the Panama investigations and that running for MEP "at the mo- ment would be the last thing on [his] mind." Grech is actively supported on Facebook by well-wishers who admire his oratory skills, which show he is able to fly the Nationalist flag on television shows with hostile debaters with the tone that once defined the PN's anti-corruption mes- sage championed by Simon Busuttil. Grech has a regular weekly slot on Radio 101 and another weekly slot on a life- style programme on NET TV. Another aide who spoke to MaltaToday said Grech has put out sponsored posts on Fa- cebook to push his profile as a lawyer, and that well-wishers often conjure up the possibil- ity that he considers the party leadership. "I see people like Michael Fenech Adami, who tends to be close to people who openly deride Delia, being too fawning of Grech on Face- book." Fenech Adami works at the PN headquarters, running technical arrangements, while being an employee of MEP Da- vid Casa, who is himself con- sidered to be inimical to Delia's leadership. "Factionalism is a problem inside the PN: in a recent ex- ecutive meeting Delia was planning to file a police report on Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi on the latest revelations on 17 Black. The fact that Oc- cupy Justice beat the party to it suggests that internal matters are being leaked," the aide said. In many posts Grech's Face- book records several people who encourage him to be the next leader. Grech makes it a point to thank them without ever suggesting that the party leader should be Adrian Delia. Delia offered Grech MEP candidature CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Muscat refrained from commenting on the missing evidence and on the French investigators sequestering documents so crucial to the Maltese inquiry, an inquiry that has ostensibly stalled. But George Vella's reaction, unlike Mus- cat's, exhibited indignation at what he called the "hypocrisy" of countries like France. "If there are no weapons, there are no conflicts. The arms industry is one of the biggest in France. Most countries would tell Benghazi and Yemen that there is not enough money for medicine to pass through to these war-torn areas, but weap- ons always get through. This industry is an obscenity." Vella said that he was an admirer of for- mer UK foreign secretary Robin Cook, who resigned in protest at the Iraq war and was one of the few people who had called for an ethical foreign policy on arms exports. The trafficking researcher and journal- ist Mark Micallef, who has reported ex- tensively on Libya both before and after the revolution that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi, expressed surprise at the news. "It is surprising that Malta is at this level of in- volvement but not that surprising," he said. "Sanctions are constantly breached for the sake of private and government interests." Micallef said the MaltaToday story went right at the heart of the problem in Libya. "Libya is severely unsettled at present with rival factions and militias seeking to con- trol territory. A UN-backed government based in Tripoli has little power and rival militias constantly collude to overthrow the wobbly government fixture." Attempts to reach the present Maltese foreign affairs minister proved futile. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs was likewise unreachable. Brigitte Curmi, French Ambassador to Malta, is yet to comment. Tracking French weapons The plane was carrying captain Fabien Pierret and first officer Marcel Bourret, contractors of CAE, the Luxembourg com- pany specialising in aerial surveillance that designed and owned the aircraft, and who were working for GAM56, the transporta- tion unit of the French secret service. The three other crew members on the plane were members of the DGSE, France's external intelligence agency. The source said that testimony gathered by inquiring magistrate Doreen Clarke painted a classic spy film atmosphere in the house. Agents sitting behind their comput- ers would receive "live footage" from the aircraft and process the information. "Contrary to what had been said in pub- lic, the aircraft wasn't carrying out sur- veillance of human and drug trafficking routes, but making sure that French weap- ons were being supplied to the right people in Libya," the source said. In 2014, France secured $9.1 billion in arms exports, an all- time high. All this despite the UN arms embargo on Libya, preventing the supply of weapons to any faction in Libya unless approved by the Sanctions Committee of the UN Secu- rity Council. MaltaToday cannot confirm whether these weapons were government property or whether they were supplied by private entities. What is certain, however, is that the spoor of moving weapons was being tracked by French spies in Balzan. Police officers and court experts who vis- ited the Balzan house on the same day the accident happened found no trace of the covert operation. "It appeared as if the house had been stripped of the equipment despite infor- mation gathered by the inquiry on the op- eration going on inside the building," the source said. The scene was described as one that in- volved a quick getaway. "There were rem- nants of wire cords still sticking out of the concealers, clearly ripped in a hurry, and the remains of a dish aerial on the roof," the source said. Vella: hypocrisy of arms exporters