Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1471185
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 3 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 JUNE 2022 Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications Fallacious claims THE Archdiocese of Malta invites for- mer minister and media commentator Michael Falzon (MaltaToday, 12 June) to substantiate remarks he made alleg- ing "there are stories of… corruption… in the Curia's own administrative structures" and that "the Archbishop knows about these cases". Under Archbishop Charles Sci- cluna's stewardship, administrative and governance structures within the Archdiocese have been strengthened through a range of measures aimed at bolstering transparency and account- ability within Curia structures. These include: • Setting up an Internal Audit Unit reporting directly to the In- ternal Audit Committee whose members act at arm's length from the Archbishop's Curia. • Appointing a money laundering reporting officer. • Commissioning a request for proposals from external audi- tors. • Instituting a Whistleblowing Policy and designating two staff members as whistleblower re- porting officers. • Setting up a procurement office to further segregate duties and reduce the likelihood of error or fraud. Aside from the above administrative measures, which place the Archbish- op's Curia on a par with the most highly respected public entities, Arch- bishop Scicluna has also collaborated with colleagues at a Vatican level to strengthen measures and structures aimed at improving the broader Church's response to clerical abuse cases. The Archdiocese strongly urges Mr Falzon, as well as anyone who believes they may have information regarding alleged corruption, to file reports with the appropriate authorities rather than resorting to gratuitous slurs and base- less statements. The Archdiocese categorically denies the suggestion that the Archbishop possesses any knowledge of such cases. Arcbishop's Curia Editorial note: MaltaToday welcomes the Curia's over-zealous response to a mere obser- vation passed in one sentence out of Mr Falzon's entire column, which actually dealt with the timing of the Archbish- op's homily on the Sette Giugno nation- al day. EU mistake on Poland THIS week, the Economic and Finan- cial Affairs Council – the EU's finance ministers – con-firmed the European Commission's decision to approve Poland's recovery and resilience plan – that is a total of €35.4 billion in funds that can now be disbursed to the Pol- ish government, always according to certain conditions. Human rights activists in Poland criticise this decision, because they think the agreed condi-tions are not sufficient to re-establish an independ- ent judiciary in Poland. It is a mistake that will not allow Poland the right incentive to repair the state of rule of law in the country. Poles still have no credible explanation from its government on how it will re-establish the independence of the country's judiciary. Now they are being 'rewarded' with billions in EU cash despite its serious rule of law deficien-cies. Maltese MPs in the Council of Europe, as well as Maltese MEPs, should protest this de- cision, as it will set into motion a dan- gerous precedent that will be unable to be resisted: next in line will by Hunga- ry's Viktor Orban, who will circumvent sanctions and secure access to the recovery funds. So much for Europe's rule of law. Brussels told Malta to shut down its golden passport scheme and the island set a deadline for its termination. Yet other countries seem to get away with much more shortcomings. Aleksandr Wojcik, Berlin