Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1238298
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 22 APRIL 2020 Answers to the MaltaToday crossword will be published next Wednesday Weather Fine or partly cloudy becoming cloudy with isolated showers, Visibility Good except in some showers Wind Mainly West to Northwest force 3 or 4, becoming variable force 2 or 3 Sea Slight to moderate Swell Low West Northwest becoming ESE TODAY TOMORROW Weather Crossword Across 9. Vertical (13) 10. Petroleum (3) 11. Personal (7) 12. Musical composition for one (4) 13. Fail or misplace (4) 15. Young owl (5) 17. Hedge (7) 19. Assumed name (5) 21. Plant juice (3) 23. Bird of prey (5) 24. One's own person (7) 25. Efts (5) 27. Observed (4) 28. Too (4) 30. Whale fishing (7) 32. Not on (3) 33. Stupid (13) Down 1. Capable of being opposed (9) 2. Go about stealthily (5) 3. High-pitched tone (4) 4. Counsellors (8) 5. Illegible handwriting (6) 6. Sky colour (4) 7. Reptile (9) 8. Pretty girl (5) 14. Female fox (5) 16. Reduce gradually (5) 18. Full of regret (9) 20. Strangle (9) 22. Perhaps (8) 26. Affluence (6) 27. Land along the edge of a sea (5) 29. Adored (5) 30. Small dam (4) 31. Grating (4) MAINLY SUNNY UV: 7 POSSIBLE THUNDERSTORM UV: 7 21 0 / 15 0 18 0 / 14 0 FEELS LIKE 21 0 FEELS LIKE 18 0 MATTHEW VELLA LABOUR MEPs have joined a call by other European colleagues demanding that the European Commission allows island-na- tions like Malta to retain relaxed state aid allowances currently in place to fight the coronavirus's impact on the economy. Alex Agius Saliba, Josianne Cutajar, and Alfred Sant joined a call from MEPs hailing from island economies that are dependent on tourism, asking that once the crisis pass- es, some of the relaxed state aid rules stay in place for island regions, as they would help to overcome the competitive disadvantage caused by insularity for island industries. "Our regions are both much more fragile and much more impacted by the COV- ID-19 crisis. Each island territory is threat- ened with general economic collapse," the MEPs, which form part of an intergroup of members hailing from islands (SEARICA), said. "We call for, in addition to the first measures already adopted for all the Euro- pean regions impacted by COVID-19, spe- cific emergency measures and a reinforced and adapted solidarity mechanism to pre- vent, and limit, the major economic crisis looming in the EU islands." The MEPs said the health crisis hitting Europe will generate a very serious eco- nomic crisis, especially for islands experi- encing an economic decline in comparison with other regions, due to their dependence on tourism. "Tourism is the economic activity that will be most affected by the consequences of the pandemic, since it is, for the islands, entire- ly dependent on air and maritime transport - which are totally at a standstill and will most probably remain so for the next sev- eral months before total deconfinement in Europe. "As a result, tourism will be the last eco- nomic activity that can be revived, and it is not certain that this will happen before the end of the summer. A "white season" for tourism would be an insurmountable crisis for all island territories if reinforced solidar- ity mechanisms are not implemented." The MEPs said that in "proximity tour- ism" areas, within reach of private cars, companies can hope for a gradual recovery as soon as the confinement is eased. How- ever, islands are by definition dependent for their tourism on maritime and especially air transport. The group also said the EU had to consid- er that islands' supplies very often depend on a single company that the crisis could precipitate into bankruptcy The MEPs added in a post-scriptum that certain islands in the Mediterranean were coping with an influx of migration which they claimed "affects the normal develop- ment of their welfare systems… We need to also factor a solution to this concern in the policies that must be devised to provide meaningful support to islands." The other MEPs hailed from Spain, Italy, Cyprus, France, Croatia, and Finland. MEPs ask EU to relax state aid rules for islands like Malta after coronavirus crisis Miriam Dalli Alfred Sant, Josianne Cutajar and Alex Agius Saliba