Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1060184
NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 DECEMBER 2018 64 • 70 • 40 • 39 • 3 / 37 • 23 • 80 07-12-2018 Draw No: 753 DAVID HUDSON JUST as the PES 2018 Congress host, Antonio Costa, welcomed Joseph Muscat to the stage, re- peated cries of "shame" were heard in the background. The familiar name of Daphne Caruana Galizia could also be heard. This was Portu- guese MEP, Ana Gomes, in her at- tempt to interrupt the Prime Minister before he was to start his speech. Clearly unfazed, Muscat car- ried on with his speech and de- livered it to continuous applause from the audience. During the speech, Muscat sang Malta's praises while con- demning anyone who was being pessimistic and trying to rain on a "successful" parade. "As of yesterday, Malta regis- tered the largest rate of economic growth in the EU, 7.5% in quar- ter three of this year," he said. "So, we have the best performing economy in Europe, which is run by progressives." The Prime Minis- ter seemed to emerge triumphant as he praised the progressive model of Malta, claiming that 18 EU Member States followed Malta's example with LGBTIQ rights. Even before Ana Gomes's in- tervention, she had already writ- ten on Twitter that his govern- ment "keeps criminals from the Panama Papers" and "blocks jus- tice over the murder of journal- ist Daphne Caruana Galizia," in essence undermining the "cred- ibility of the socialist political family." Muscat talked about Malta's embracing of technological ad- vancement, the island being the first to legislate on Blockchain technology. While doing so, he took aim at political tactics that might have been adopted by Gomes in the same room. "We are also living in an era of politics of disruption. Up to now, we have left this field barren of our influence. It has proved fer- tile for others, from the United States to the United Kingdom, the results of which are known to all. It is about time to start some disruption of our own. Disrup- tion is not about wearing a par- ticular colour or banging one's feet. A politics of progressive disruption is one where we chal- lenge, surprise, provoke," he said. Ana Gomes heckles Joseph Muscat during Lisbon speech As Joseph Muscat started singing Malta's praises, the Portuguese MEP, also a member of the PES, screamed 'shame' numerous times before she was silenced by applause CORRUPTION is costing each Maltese citizen €1,671 every year, according to figures in a report on the costs of corrup- tion in EU Member States re- leased by the Greens/European Free Alliance group. The figures suggest that over €725 million or 8.65% of GDP is lost each year in Malta due to corruption, enough to give 42,900 people an average wage. According to the report, which deals with every EU country separately, the striking figure of €725 million annually lost to corruption in Malta is more than 20 times the budget for the unemployed (€36 mil- lion). It is also almost the entire budget for the elderly (€735 million). Using the most recent data and studies available, this document compares the costs of corruption to public invest- ment in education, healthcare, childcare and housing, elderly care, or policing and fire ser- vices. The aim is to raise pub- lic awareness about the cost of corruption across the EU by giving tangible examples of what this could mean for the average person, and to call for a substantial increase in the fight against corruption by the Euro- pean Union institutions. Comparative figures The €725 million annually lost to corruption in Malta is enough to give roughly 42,900 people in the country (over 9% of the population) the average annual Maltese wage (€16,924 net in 2015; Malta's unem- ployment rate was 3% in April 2018). This figure is more than 10 times the size of the policing budget (€67 million) and more than 90 times the total amount spent on the fire service (€8 million), says the report. The figures appear to show that Malta loses more money to corruption than the entire amount spent on education (total €510 million). It is over 45 times bigger than the entire housing budget (€16 million), over seven times the national budget for family and children (€102 million). Corruption is costing you €1,671 annually