MaltaToday previous editions

MALTATODAY 8 May 2022

Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1467182

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 1 of 51

2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 MAY 2022 NEWS NOTICE The District Court of Amsterdam has declared Amsterdam Trade Bank N.V. ("ATB"), also trading under the names ATBANK, ATBConnect, ATBSavings, FIBR and FIBR Bank, registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce under number 33260432, bankrupt on 22 April 2022 (F.13/22/77). Amsterdam Trade Bank N.V. has its registered office at Strawinskylaan 1939 (1077XX) in Amsterdam. The court has appointed C.H. Rombouts as supervisory judge. A. van Hees and J.E.P.A. van Hooff, P.O. Box 75640 (1070 AP) Amsterdam, the Netherlands, have been appointed as bankruptcy trustees of Amsterdam Trade Bank N.V. The bankruptcy trustees will contact all known creditors. If you are a creditor of ATB and you have any other specific questions with regard to the bankruptcy, please contact the bankruptcy trustees' information desk by email at infoatb@stibbe.com MALTA'S fourteenth legisla- ture was sworn in yesterday after MPs attended an inaugural mass at the St John Cathedral in Val- letta, celebrated by Archbishop Charles Scicluna. MPs with their spouses and partners, as well as relatives, made their way to the House of Representatives along Repub- lic Street, to attend the official opening of the Maltese parlia- ment. This legislature marks the first in which 12 MPs were co-opted to the House under a new gender-corrective meas- ure to increase MPs from the under-represented gender. The governing Labour side has a majority of nine MPs. The MPs assembled in the Chamber of the House of Rep- resentatives to hear the proc- lamation summoning the 14th parliament by the Clerk of the House, who then read the re- sults of the General Election and the names of the MPs duly elected. Speaker Anglu Farrugia took the oath of allegiance, with Deputy Speaker David Agius from the Opposition side elect- ed. MPs co-opted to the House in line with Malta's new quotas system were then introduced. Randolph Debattista, a co-opted Labour MP who filled in a vacant seat in the ninth district, took his oath of alle- giance without the customary reference to God and kissing the crucifix, which was set aside for his oath. MPs sworn in for Malta's largest post-war parliament MATTHEW VELLA MALTA'S President of the Re- public officially inaugurated the country's 14th legislature since 1964, as incumbent and new MPs took their seats to- day. George Vella addressed the House, which also welcomed 12 additional female MPs co-opted under a gender quo- ta system, with the Abela ad- ministration's priorities for the forthcoming five years spelt out. Among these priorities will be new amendments to Mal- ta's rules for in vitro fertilisa- tion, Vella said, in a bid to offer more hope for prospective par- ents seeking assisted reproduc- tion. It now marks 10 years since Malta last banned embryo freezing under a previous Na- tionalist administration, with new rules expanding the ser- vice for all women irrespective of status or sexual orientation. "Above all we want an equal society," Vella told MPs. "Among these main priorities will be giving more families a greater chance to become parents. A number of amend- ments will be tabled to the laws governing IVF to offer greater hope to the most prospective parents. The amendments would be complemented by the investment needed to en- able the process to take place. "Equality at every level is one of the values that must distin- guish us as a country," Vella said, now turning to Malta's parliamentary quotas for the under-represented. Gender. "We are starting this legis- lature with a more equal par- liament, with stronger female representation. We must take this principle into workplaces, particularly in decision-mak- ing boards, with a number of incentives." Russian invasion With Ukrainian president Volydymyr Zelenskyy now scheduled to address the new House on Tuesday 10 May, Vella reminded MPs that Mal- ta's neutrality should not close their eyes in the face of injus- tice and deplorable actions. "The pressures brought about by the war in Ukraine are not diminishing at all. First of all, we must reaffirm that this is an attack which cannot but be condemned... that is why Mal- ta implemented a number of sanctions agreed in EU fora. "We gave and will continue to provide humanitarian aid to help Ukrainian citizens. We continue to hear stories of de- struction, death, cruelty, and of the loss of their homes and everything they built in their lives. "We who are so far away also feel the effects of this war. Im- agine what those who are in the middle of it feel," Vella said. The President said Malta too was feeling the pressures of the Russian invasion in Ukraine. "We have an economy that is recovering strongly from the effects of the pandemic. Last year our country created more wealth than we had created before the pandemic.... But success does not come from nothing. What is happening in the world now makes it all the more important not to lose sight at any time of the effec- tive management of our econ- omy. "The war is impacting on the prices of essential goods such as energy, food and freight. Government is not only aware of these challenges but is con- stantly pursuing discussions to counter this impact. As it did during the pandemic, the government will ensure that it supports people and business- es." Redistribution of income Vella toasted Malta's rate of economic growth and Malta's record lows of unemployment, but said the success of Malta's economic formula will always depend on the extent of the re- distribution of wealth. Malta will be seeing yet an- other decreasein the rates of income tax, tax refunds, but al- so placing new obligations for sustainable business practices. "Reducing tax on business should lead to a shift towards more sustainable operations, more productive job creation, and greater investment in re- search and innovation." Vella also said the Labour administration will strengthen the country's standards follow- ing a positive report from the Counci of Europe's Moneyval, and to implement the recom- mendations agreed with the Financial Action Task Force in a bid to take Malta out of the FATF greylist. Vella also said Malta's would continue to register improve- ments in the areas of govern- ance, also tied to its recent FATF backslide. "No country or individual is perfect, but we can strive for Malta to be at the forefront of modern democracies, with strong systems of rule of law. This requires reforms to have more modern judicial process- es, because the administra- tion of effective justice must be a basic principle in today's world. "We will continue to step up reforms, but as in other sec- tors, we want the justice sys- tem to be oriented in a way that better understands the realities of those facing its practition- ers and those who mete it out. Justice is blind, but it must be Vella maps out priorities of Abela administration as MPs take their seats PHOTOGRAPHY JAMES BIANCHI

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of MaltaToday previous editions - MALTATODAY 8 May 2022