Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1066826
18 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matthew Vella MANAGING EDITOR Saviour Balzan Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 DECEMBER 2018 31 December 2008 Tempers rise as football presidents go head-to-head THE president of Birkirkara FC yesterday said he is seeking legal advice over allegations by Joe Mifsud, the president of the Malta Football Association, who claimed Birkirkara had not forwarded receipts of its footballers' national insurance contributions, earning the MFA a citation from UEFA. Mifsud lambasted Victor Zammit during a press conference on Monday over the latter's claims that the MFA was fined for not distrib- uting UEFA monies to Maltese clubs. The issue concerns allegations that some 300,000 Swiss francs in UEFA funds were never distributed to the clubs by the MFA from the European football body's HatTrick Programme. Five football club presidents have met to discuss the matter and take up the matter with the MFA. Joe Mifsud, the MFA president who is also a member on the executive committee of UEFA, told MaltaToday the money belongs to the association. "They are assuming the money belongs to them but in reality it is for the MFA, which has the right to use these funds to cover expenses concerning licences," Mifsud said. Instead he accused Victor Zammit of being responsible for a caution the MFA received from UEFA over undisclosed national insur- ance receipts. "Zammit is claiming the MFA was fined over this matter, but in reality it received a caution from UEFA because it did not collect receipts of the national insurance contributions paid by Birkirkara FC for its players. We just rested on the club's declarations," Mifsud said. Zammit yesterday told MaltaToday that the UEFA circular, dating back to 2004, says the money was to be used for the licences required by clubs to play in European competitions, or for the MFA to distribute to the clubs for their administrative expenses, such as auditing and accounting services. "We were never told of the scheme, and we only got to know about the money now. And what we are simply asking for is to know what the MFA did with that money," Zammit said. He added that it was UEFA which publicly stated that "fines and warnings" had been is- sued to Malta, Finland and Azerbaijan, con- cerning spot-checks carried out by UEFA in 2007. Yesterday, the directors of Birkirkara FC issued a statement saying they fully supported Zammit's request to seek clarification on the HatTrick funds. The club said it was not "involved in any other controversies or other issues" between the MFA with "other third parties and that it is not dragging itself in such issues." MaltaToday 10 years ago Quote of the Week Towards a fairer and more just society Editorial ''Europe needs to pull up its socks and understand it was a promoter of human rights for about 70 years... I can't understand why, all of a sudden, human rights have become a pick-and-choose issue.'' Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, President of the Republic AS 2018 comes to a close with yet another year dominated by Malta's politically-charged news cycle, as journalists we are often staggered at how little certain news events and political mis- demeanours seem to bother the general public. The stock response is that economic growth under Labour has anaesthetised the impulse for outrage – but this is a political truth evident in any country where the going is good. Joseph Muscat is credited with having managed capitalism into a better deal for the Maltese citizenry: but his success comes at considerable expense for the Maltese envi- ronment, for the way we organise our lives around labour and the ability to consume more, and for the way we live in urban cen- tres dominated by noise pollution, construc- tion, increased traffic, and the shortcomings of cosmopolitan life. Muscat also presides over a society which has a close connection to political forces; and, as recent EU surveys show, enjoys higher trust ratings than institutions such as the media: which are often treated as harbin- gers of doom, eager as we are to focus on the cracks of society and its emarginated, rather than what is enthusiastically dubbed 'posi- tive' news or 'successes'. That might even be true, but the need to look at hidden stories is also a necessary part of the bigger picture. Meanwhile, there is absolutely nothing wrong with basking in economic growth. To date, all administrations – both Labour and Nationalist – have focused on material ends, with some administrations doing a better job of redistributing income and wealth. Jobs have been a constant focus for all major po- litical parties: employment gives people dig- nity and the power to consume, and that dig- nity is vital for a certain identity, to solidify the bonds of social solidarity upon which we can contribute towards the common good. But today, we also complain about unbri- dled individualism, perhaps mostly illustrated by rampant construction development – ben- efiting a powerful class of 'producers' in par- ticular – which upsets the balance between the rights of people to open space rights, and of those who are eyeing Malta's precious coastlines and countryside to make millions. In response to such complaints, Muscat's administration always asks us to accommo- date this new reality. Under the present gov- ernment, the supposedly independent plan- ning regulator is a pawn in the hands of the government, and the public has no proper recourse to fight the corporate interests that have laid siege to, not just land, but also our clean air, our peace and quiet, our public views, our swimming areas, our rambling green areas, and so on. At what point will the Maltese realise that, beyond the economic benefits trickling down to them – chief among them, the sale of old properties for apartment blocks – they too will face the remorse of having lost control over their communities? Will they end up seeing their village and town cores as ghosts of their past: being transformed into 'mini- airports' for the constant influx of foreign labour (servicing companies seeking a Mal- tese base for tax benefits)? Will all that is left of the physical spaces they once inhabited, be just a faint childhood memory? Or will the Maltese see beyond the stupor of material wealth to address mean- ingful questions about their identity, about the democratic control of independent insti- tutions, and about what it means to live in a better society? As we constantly ask ourselves what mean- ingful opposition should exist to the neolib- eral drive that Labour represents today, it only seems ever more clear that the answer lies in rediscovering what a fair society is all about. Challenges that must be addressed now include pressing questions as to whether local councils and communities should be in- volved deeper in planning decisions; whether to hold referenda on local plans and town- scape design, to wrest away the influence from compromised parties and MPs; whether Malta is actively going to safeguard the en- vironment with clear controls on poaching, noise pollution, abusive construction, and countryside destruction; whether we are to allow Malta's mercantilist economy to pro- ceed without a strong financial crime unit, that can clamp down on illicit financial deals and organised crime outfits using the gam- ing and fintech industries to launder their money. More importantly – as the fourth industrial revolution turns more of us redundant by delegating human labour to technology – are we ready to discuss the values that under- pin our welfare system and its survival, our strong tradition of solidarity in the face of the refugee crisis; and if businesses' influence will continue to displace our democratic con- trol over the governments we elect? Relinquishing the urgency to answer these questions would be relegating ourselves to collaborators of a political system that is guided only by the values of mercantilists and piratical profiteers. We need to be at the forefront of the fight against the privatisation of our public spaces; against those who man- age to overcome democratic hurdles with the use of hefty party donations, and who blame the poor and dispossessed as parasites. In a word, those who would benefit in a society where authoritarian tendencies, rendered sweeter by a mix of trickle-down economics, overcome the democratic brakes that makes a just, sustainable and more equal society pos- sible.