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3 NEWS 11.5.2023 AIRPORT traffic in April surpassed 2019 levels by 8.4% as Malta Inter- national Airport got an early taste of summer. MIA hit the 700,000-passenger mark early, with the traffic for April amount- ing to 708,388 movements. is record was boosted by the launch of the air- port's new summer schedule and the Easter holidays. Easter weekend (between 7 and 10 April) alone was the month's busiest weekend with 98,449 passengers pass- ing through MIA. April's positive traffic result was reg- istered on the back of an increase of 6.8% over 2019 in the seat capacity deployed on flights to and from Malta and a strong seat load factor (SLF) of 84.6%. e top driver of passenger traffic for the month was the Italian market fol- lowed by the United Kingdom, France and Germany. After a six-month ab- sence from the leader board, Spain once again ranked fifth in April. e Spanish market's improved per- formance largely stemmed from the resumption of flights to Seville and Valencia together with increased flight frequencies on the Barcelona route as part of the airport's summer schedule. MIA traffic exceeds 700,000 passengers KURT SANSONE MALTESE MEPs voted against a res- olution urging the European Commis- sion to introduce EU-wide taxes on big business, which nonetheless passed with 356 votes against 199. e resolution on Wednesday called for new "own resources" measures to cover soaring interest rates on the bloc's common debt. Nationalist MEP David Casa from the European People's Party, and Labour MEPs Alfred Sant, Josianne Cutajar, Alex Agius Saliba and Cyrus Engerer, who form part of the Socialists & Dem- ocrats, broke ranks with their respec- tive European parties to vote against the resolution co-authored by MEPs from the EPP and the liberal Renew. Casa joined 18 other EPP MEPs who voted against, while the PL MEPs joined 10 fellow S&D MEPs in opposing the resolution. e main opponents to the resolution were Euroskeptic parties. Nonetheless, the resolution co-au- thored by José Manuel Fernandes from the EPP and Valérie Hayer from Renew was adopted during the plenary session held on Wednesday with 356 votes in favour, 199 against and 65 abstentions. e parliament's text endorses intro- duction of new taxes on crypto assets, financial transactions and on foreign firms which pay workers less than the living wage, to generate extra revenue for the Commission. EU lawmakers backed the report urg- ing the EU's executive to raise levies on big businesses to finance its budget for 2024. e budget is under strain from record inflation and rising interest on the bloc's debt incurred when the Re- covery and Resilience Facility was set up during the pandemic. e RRF was the first-ever instance of EU joint debt. But supporters of the resolution argue that the EU needs to raise more mon- ey to sustain responses to challenges posed by climate change and the war in Ukraine. e resolution affirmed that "EU fi- nances are going through a critical pe- riod where a lack of reform would have highly detrimental effects on the future the European Union, its policies, objec- tives and the trust of Europeans and in- vestors in the Union." It also highlighted that MEPs are "highly worried" that the amounts gen- erated by the new own resources will not be sufficient to cover all "Next Gen- eration EU" (NGEU) recovery repay- ments and borrowing costs, estimated to be at least €15 billion per year until 2058 on average. e economic and social shock of Rus- sia's invasion of Ukraine, the heavy im- pact of inflation on the EU budget and the rising global race to shape the future of clean energy technology manufac- turing are additional challenges which underline the need to reassess the EU system of own resources. e Commission has already pro- posed a first batch of new own resourc- es in 2021. e MEPs call on the Com- mission to come forward with the next batch of proposals "as soon as possible and no later than the third quarter of 2023." e MEPs said the European Parlia- ment should play an enhanced role in the decision-making process for own resources "to ensure the visibility, legit- imacy and democratic accountability of EU public finances." European Parliament Maltese MEPs break ranks with European parties and vote against EU-wide taxes Easter weekend alone came with a bonanza for Malta International Airport as it welcomed around 100,000 passengers

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