Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1465732
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 APRIL 2022 NEWS among party members. If only two candidates contest the leadership, the decision will be taken directly by the party's membership base. In the 2020 leadership contest that saw Grech beat Adrian Delia, 18,362 card carrying members voted. But as things stand today it is likely that members will not get a say on who the PN's next leader will be. The MaltaToday survey also asked councillors to pass judgement on the elec- toral campaign of their par- ty and that of the rival La- bour Party. An absolute majority of 57% said the PN's elector- al campaign was 'good' or 'very good', while 10.4% judged their party's cam- paign to be 'bad' or 'very bad'. But PN councillors also gave a positive verdict of the Labour Party's elector- al campaign with a relative majority of 40.4% saying it was 'good' or 'very good'. A quarter of respondents (24.9%) judged the PL cam- paign to be 'bad' or 'very bad'. Asked to pass judgement on the reporting of the elec- tion campaign by State TV, PN councillors stuck to the party line with 78.9% giv- ing TVM the thumbs down. Only 5.9% of PN councillors felt that State TV reportage was 'good' or 'very good'. The independent media did better. While 17.5% of councillors felt reportage by the independent me- dia was 'bad' or 'very bad', 36.8% said it was 'good' or 'very good'. Asked to pass judgement on the reporting of the election campaign by State TV, PN councillors stuck to the party line with 78.9% giving TVM the thumbs down KURT SANSONE ADPD wants the cost of living in- crease to be awarded twice a year to make up for the spiralling cost of essential commodities. Green Party Chairperson Car- mel Cacopardo and deputy sec- retary-general Sandra Gauci said vulnerable people are being over- burdened with month-on-month increases in basic items as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They called for urgent govern- ment action to minimise the "mas- sive impact" the war is having on the Maltese economy. The spokespersons insisted Malta should safeguard its energy secu- rity by accelerating further invest- ment in domestically generated renewable energy. "Although the government can- not control what happens abroad it is duty bound to manage well what happens in our country. AD- PD has proposed that especially in these volatile times it is necessary that the cost of living increase is awarded twice a year as well as a thorough overhaul of the way that the minimum wage is calculated," Gauci said during a press confer- ence in Qormi on Saturday. Figures released by the National Statistics Office on Friday showed that annual inflation in March stood at 4.5% with soaring food prices contributing to the signifi- cant increase. The annual inflation rate for food in March stood at a whopping 8.7%. Gauci insisted that a decent wage was something everyone should have by right. "We do not want the insulting, patronising Father Christmas government giving out cheques through the mail during an election campaign. The new government should reflect its man- tra that it is a 'government which listens' by taking the necessary ac- tion as soon as parliament meets," Gauci said. Cacopardo said the Russian inva- sion has highlighted Europe's need to gain energy independence. "ADPD joins the call by the Greens within the European Par- liament for the European Com- mission to fast track its process towards a 100% renewable energy target," he said. ADPD calls for double COLA as war causes prices to spiral THE Chamber of Commerce has called for a lifting of travel restric- tions for third countries, complain- ing that Malta continues to uphold a long dark-red list and "draconi- an" quarantines to arrivals even if travellers are vaccinated. The Chamber said this made it impossible for business-related travel to and from third countries to resume. "It is placing local businesses who have contractual obligations or potential new business in third countries at a disadvantage com- pared to their EU counterparts," said Liz Barbaro Sant, chairper- son of TradeMalta, a public-pri- vate partnership between the Chamber and the Maltese gov- ernment tasked with facilitating business in third countries. "On both a commercial as well as a diplomatic level, this has be- come unsustainable and is drying up the pipeline of international business prospects for Maltese businesses." On 22 February, the Council of the EU adopted an updated rec- ommendation on non-essential travel from third countries in- to the EU, stating that mmeber states should allow non-essential travel for persons vaccinated with an EU- or WHO-approved vac- cine, recovered persons and all persons travelling from a country on the EU whitelist, while allow- ing for additional measures such as PCR testing before travel to be requested. The Council recommendation is not legally binding, but most EU countries have adopted it. Malta Chamber President Mari- sa Xuereb said there are signifi- cant business interests in third countries that are being put at risk by quarantines that are in- congruent with the approach adopted in Malta. Ditch dark-red COVID measures, Chamber says