Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1491153
14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 29 JANUARY 2023 NEWS TRUTH IS OF NO COLOUR WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT SUNDAY • 22 JANUARY 2023 • ISSUE 1212 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY maltatoday → direct Bespoke investment service tailored to your specific needs. discretionary portfolio management and receive a top-up of up to €200* Apply now medirect.com.mt 2557 4400 MeDirect Bank (Malta) plc, company registration number C34125, is licensed to undertake the business of banking in terms of the Banking Act (Cap. 371) and investment services under the Investment Services Act (Cap. 370). PAGE 3 PAGE 3 Ten years on, no justice has been served on the Enemalta oil scandal PAGES 14-15 ENEMALTA OIL SCANDAL €1.95 Superboss capture is historic for Italy, but not the end of the Mafia... PAGES 8-9 End of an era? CARABOTT MATTHEW VELLA A parliamentary group meeting of the National- ist Party in Pietà saw party heavyweights and shadow ministers openly question Bernard Grech's dimin- ished presence as a leader. The air inside the PN just a year off the 2024 European and local coun- cil elections is yet again that of resignation, as the party seems to be inactive on various fronts, save for the unity it has garnered on opposition to Labour's amendments to the Crim- inal Code on Malta's abor- tion ban. On Tuesday last week, Bernard Grech's request to his leading MPs and shad- ow ministers to present him with working plans for the issues they will be following up in 2023, was met with questions from the parliamentary group about his role in shaping the political agenda. Voices such as those of Beppe Fenech Adami, the new heavyweight Joe Giglio, and newcomer Darren Carabott, asked Grech that it was not enough for them to have a plan of action. "He was told, 'we need sound and determined leadership'," one PN source told Malt- aToday about the meeting. Bernard Grech quizzed by PN heavyweights over 'weak leadership' MATTHEW VELLA GOZO'S association of tour- ism operators has reiterated its stand in favour of the extension of the helipad at Ta' Lambert into an airstrip, and likened the project to tax-funded projects delivering public services such as the Gozo Channel, the fast ferry or even basic roadworks. The GTA was reacting to a statement from former La- bour prime minister and MEP Alfred Sant, who poured cold water over the government's plans to extend the airstrip for a fixed-wing service to the is- land. 'Unprofitable' Gozo air service could be tax- funded - GTA Lingering cough and cold? Higher amounts of respiratory virus cases when compared to pre-COVID years BACK PAGE GTA takes exception at strong statement from former Labour PM Alfred Sant on 'bound-to-fail' service young MP chair is a straight-talker INTERVIEW MT2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 JANUARY 2023 COMMENT Fair value for farmers' land MIGUEL AZZOPARDI PAGE 11 The Skinny Malta, shrunk down MICHAEL FALZON Rivers of tears PAGE 7 SAVIOUR BALZAN The nanny state for you PAGE 5 EDITORIAL Back to censorship, under 'progressive' Labour PAGE 2 JOSANNE CASAR Singing people's praises after they've gone PAGE 6 We cannot let speculative interests jeopardise the farming sector by turning agricultural land into something to be bought and sold to the highest bidder What are we skinning? The boys in blue feeling obligated to come after satirist Matthew Bonanno (he of 'Bis-Serjeta') for his suggestion that the evangelical religious group River of Love be relocated to Bugibba so as to be carpet-bombed in a less picturesque location than its former HQ in Zebbug. Why are we skinning it? Because it's an absurd legal non-starter, for one thing. More than that though, it's because a case like this ends up with us having to go through the whole 'what am even sat- ire?'; 'what be hate speech' rigmarole all over again... Why do people still trip up over words whose definition can easily be found by flipping through the nearest dictionary... online, too! I think it has something to do with how our brains are generally a mess that will prevent us from taking a linear route to 'clean' knowledge at every opportunity. Yeah. That, and the ten- dency of emotion to trump (!) all rational discourse either way, solidifying pre-existing prejudices all the while. But I thought we were done with this whole censorship lark. We are, in some ways. Technically speaking, Bonanno's fallen foul of the 'misuse of elec- tronic equipment' law, and for 'hate speech'... But hate speech should be actionable in some way. Hey, who are we to say that Bonanno can't have a flo- tilla of fighter jets stashed away somewhere? The police certainly seemed confident about it. 'Misplaced efficiency' should be carved onto the sleeves of their new- ly-minted uniforms. Though the Parliamentary Secretary for Reforms set up a press conference to announce that the fight against gay conversion therapy will be strength- ened even further... And we all know which group gay conversion therapy is associated with... A total coincidence, though, right? Or a mas- terstroke move by a gov- ernment that's become an expert in public relations saves. Do say: "While online hate speech is indeed a serious matter – and not just ironically serious like the Bis-Serjeta' monicker will have you believe – a clear distinction needs to be made between hate speech which signals and real and present danger and delib- erately inflated comments made with satirical intent and with no basis in the real world out there." Don't say: "The suggestion that Bugibba be razed to the ground is a serious offence indeed, as that would result in the con- tainment field that keeps all the British tourists and expats in to burst, unleash- ing them on an unsuspect- ing island ill-equipped to deal with their misplaced colonial superiority com- plex and irrational urge for fried fatty foods, 24/7." No 174 – Carpets over Bugibba maltatoday | SUNDAY • 29 JANUARY 2023 CLASSIFIEDS & COMMERCIALS ARTS • TV • WHAT'S ON Isabel Warrington Actress PHOTO JAMES BIANCHI maltatoday Get the critical perspective on politics, culture and society Be the first to enjoy our print newspaper with a subscription When you need to decode what politicians are saying, when you want to understand why Malta's crazy construction industry is impacting upon your life, when you need to step out of the social media and understand the world from a different perspective, our journalists and columnists will provide you with expert reporting, analysis and commentary. Order now at https;//maltatoday.uberflip.com KARL AZZOPARDI THE European Commission has referred Malta to the European Court of Justice for authorising the trapping of finches in yet an- other case concerning the issue. The Commission has not bought government's reason for the derogation to allow the live capture – trapping – of seven species of wild finches on the pretext of scientific research. The Brussels executive is argu- ing the derogation violates of the Birds Directive and Treaty obligations. A 2018 ECJ verdict had already stopped finch trapping in Mal- ta, but government had tried to skirt the judgment by applying a research derogation in 2020. In 2021, the Commission also decided to refer Malta to the Court of Justice, for failing to apply the Birds Directive "by incorrectly applying a deroga- tion regime and authorising the trapping of protected finches for research purposes." At the time, the Commission considered that, even though the declared objective is 're- search', several elements indi- cate that the scheme, in prac- tice, allows for a large number of birds to be captured without being reported, contrary to the strict conditions for derogations set by the Birds Directive. "Although Malta repealed the incriminated legislation in ear- ly October, it did not allay the Commission's concerns: the trapping licences for the 2021 season had already been issued on the basis of the repealed 2020 framework, and new rules have been swiftly adopted with on- ly minor changes compared to the previous legal regime," the Commission had said. Court action in 2021 was preceded by the Commission's reasoned opinion that deemed Malta's trapping derogation as "unsatisfactory". Finch trapping cannot take place in line with the Birds Di- rective, and Malta has already lost its case in front of the Eu- ropean Court of Justice when it applied such a derogation. The Birds Directive allows der- ogations from the ban on spring hunting and trapping only sub- ject to strict conditions. 2021 court action Malta was already hauled into the European Court of Justice by the European Commission in November 2021 for having pub- lished a framework law a mere week after repealing a law un- der infringement proceedings, for derogating from the EU's ban on bird trapping. Malta's trap-ping season opened un- der a criterion that allows some 2,500 trappers to catch birds, ring them and then release them. But groups like BirdLilfe and CABS denounce the der- ogation as a smokescreen that serves as a cover for poaching. BirdLife says that under cover of the derogation, thousands of birds are being caught which are not being released back into the wild, as the derogation stipu- lates. The FKNK has denied this claim. BirdLife Malta has filed a ju- dicial protest against Gozo and environment ministers Clint Camilleri and Aaron Farrugia, as well as the Wild Birds Regu- lation Unit (WBRU) and the En- vironment and Resources Au- thority (ERA), demanding the revocation of the new frame- work trap-ping law. The protest blames Gozo min- ister Clint Camilleri of circum- venting the requirements set by the Environment Protection Act which demand such regulations are subject to a public consulta- tion exercise before being pub- lished. The Framework Law allowing finch trapping under a 'research' derogation was issued a few hours before the opening of the season on 20 October, without the mandatory four-week public consultation. BirdLife CEO Mark Sultana said that in its last meeting, the consultative committee Ornis passed a motion to refrain from making its usual recommenda- tion on the season, due to ongo- ing infringement proceedings by the European Commission. Framework laws set the pa- rameters within which trap- ping or hunting seasons can be opened. "The 'research' derogation framework law was issued afresh less than a week after last year's regulations were repealed on the 14 October. "These included an overnight transformation of over 2,500 trappers into specially licensed 'researchers', able to oper- ate across an equal number of trapping sites across Malta and Gozo," Sultana said. "Nobody is above the law. Both ministers need to respect the environment laws to the full and we strongly believe that they have breached the Environment Protection Act by enacting a law without a public consultation period." Brussels hauls Malta to European Court of Justice again over finch trapping derogation