Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1516944
7 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 6 MARCH 2024 NEWS MATTHEW VELLA mvella@mediatoday.com.mt This article is part of a content series called Ewropej. This is a multi-newsroom initiative part-funded by the European Parliament to bring the work of the EP closer to the citizens of Malta and keep them informed about matters that affect their daily lives. This article reflects only the author's view. The action was co-financed by the European Union in the frame of the European Parliament's grant programme in the field of communication. The European Parliament was not involved in its preparation and is, in no case, responsible for or bound by the information or opinions expressed in the context of this action. In accordance with applicable law, the authors, interviewed people, publishers or programme broadcasters are solely responsible. The European Parliament can also not be held liable for direct or indirect damage that may result from the implementation of the action. PN has not yet submitted its accounts and donation reports for 2022 and 2023 OUTGOING Labour MEP Al- fred Sant has called on the EU to suspend its association agree- ment with Israeli, a free trade deal, if it is to remain in line with its values Sant said that for the EU to be coherent with its proclaimed val- ues, it should give "concrete ex- pression to a condemnation of Israeli actions" by immediately suspending the Israeli-EU associ- ation agreement. "The EU should also advise member states against the supply of war material to Israel," Sant told a European Parliament plenary debate on the ongoing war in the Gaza strip. The EU–Israel Association Agreement incorporates free trade arrangements for industrial goods and concessionary arrange- ments for trade in agricultural products. Sant condemned without reser- vation the Hamas attack on Israeli communities and acknowledged that Israel could only regard it as an act of war and take action ac- cordingly. But Sant condemned the Israeli retaliation. "War has been con- ducted by the Israeli government in a totally disproportionate manner against the Palestinian people living in Gaza, whom it has controlled in an authoritarian manner for the last decades." The Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedent- ed assault on Israel on 7 October 2023, with hundreds of gunmen infiltrating communities near the Gaza Strip. Following Hamas's deadly attack, which claimed the lives of around 1,200 people and resulted in more than 200 peo- ple being taken hostage, Israel declared war against the terrorist group. "In breach of the rules of war, there has been a total disregard for civilian casualties which have reached disastrous levels, with most being women and children," Sant said, stressing that Israeli claims that civilian deaths are in- evitable collateral damage or due to Hamas using civilians as buff- ers are not tenable. "Indeed, they give credence to counter-claims that the Israeli strategy is defined by revenge and carries a genocidal intent, within the context of Israel having degenerated into an apart- heid state". Sant noted that the attempt by Israel to blank the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Pal- estine Refugees (UNRWA) out of the situation heightened the cre- dence of such statements. Sant says EU should suspend Israeli-EU association agreement Labour MEP Alfred Sant CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The commission said it asked the PN to file the necessary documents as required at law in letters dated 18 January 2022, 6 April 2022, 12 January 2023, 10 April 2023 and 14 June 2023. However, it seems each of these five letters were ignored by the PN, which has not yet submitted its accounts and do- nation reports for those two years. The information comes from the Electoral Commission's reply to a judicial protest filed last January by Labour MEP candidates Daniel Attard and Maria Sara Vella Gafà. The protest was addressed towards the PN and the Electoral Com- mission requested the Opposi- tion party to promptly submit its accounts. Each registered political par- ty is obliged to submit its ac- counts and list of donors, ac- cording to the parameters set by the law regulating political party financing. After vetting the documents, the Electoral Commission then publishes the accounts and donor reports on its website. However, in its court reply, the commission said its pow- ers to sanction political parties that fall foul of the law have been curtailed by a constitu- tional court ruling from 2018. The court ruled back then that the commission could not act as investigator, judge and jury on political party financing in- vestigations since this breached the right to a fair trial. Since then, the commission has been powerless in enforc- ing the law and will remain so unless parliament makes the necessary legal amendments. So far, no changes are being prospected. Nonetheless, in its counter protest the commission said the political parties were still obliged to adhere to the law. "The commission stresses that it is in everybody's interest that the law is respected with- out the need to be threatened by sanctions. The commis- sion feels every political party should act responsibly so that the law is respected always, all the more when the commis- sion's hands are tied because of a ruling given by the country's highest court," the counter protest reads. In their judicial protest, Dan- iel Attard and Maria Sara Vella Gafà had pointed out that the PN is susceptible to a fine of up to €20,000 for each year, cou- pled with additional penalties for its non-disclosure of do- nors. They also accused the PN of exhibiting a disregard for legal obligations without a justifia- ble excuse. The PN has not replied to the judicial protest, something it is not obliged to do. The Electoral Commission had its powers to sanction political parties that fall foul of the law curtailed by a constitutional court ruling in 2018