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6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 MARCH 2025 Abela pulls out another rabbit from the hat Editorial THE European Convention on Human Rights will be 75-years-old in November since it was opened for signature in Rome on 4 Novem- ber 1950. By all means this is a significant milestone for the European continent that embraced the fundamental freedoms laid out by the United Nations in the aftermath of World War II. The convention, which came into force on 3 September 1953, was the first instrument to give effect to certain rights stated in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and make them binding on member states. Malta ratified the convention in January 1967. In 1987, Malta also ratified the two articles that allowed the right of individu- al petition and recognition of the European Court's compulsory jurisdiction, respective- ly. With all its warts and deficiencies, the re- spect for human rights is what defines Eu- rope. But now, Prime Minister Robert Abela wants to "reform" the convention. In what way, we do not know but he floated the idea during a meeting on migration with several European leaders on the fringes of the Brus- sels summit last Thursday. The official statement released by the De- partment of Information said the Prime Min- ister told fellow leaders that Malta will put the matter on the agenda of the Council of Europe when it takes over the presidency in May. The DOI statement claimed that the leaders present for the meeting were "inter- ested" in Malta's proposal. No detail was given about the reform but the fact that Abela floated the idea during a meeting that discussed irregular migration suggests his idea could be linked to the sub- ject. During the meeting, leaders discussed an EU proposal to outsource migrant deten- tion centres to third countries for rejected asylum seekers. The proposal has come un- der fire from human rights organisations. Within this context, Abela's audacity to speak of reforming the human rights conven- tion is worrying because in our eyes it can only mean one thing – giving states more power to do as they please by diluting the human rights of immigrants. But what is also concerning is that 'reform- ing the convention' is not even one of the priority areas of Malta's presidency of the Council of Europe. Last February, during a meeting in Malta with CoC Secretary Gen- eral Alain Berset, Foreign Minister Ian Borg outlined the priorities - youth empower- ment, the protection of children, combating violence and discrimination and safeguard- ing human rights. Reforming the convention was not something on Malta's agenda. It remains a mystery why Abela chose to raise the subject of convention reform with EU leaders. In the best-case scenario, he had a slip of the tongue and confused the Council of Europe with something else; in the worst- case scenario he decided to make policy on the fly to impress his peers around the table. Either way it shows amateurism. This is a déjà vu of what Abela did last month when he was in Paris for a special meeting called by Emmanuel Macron and told a TVM reporter that Malta needed to increase its defence spending and questioned whether neutrality was acting as a brake on such spending. After receiving flak from the Labour Party's hardcore, Abela tried to back pedal on his remarks, insisting neutrality is untouchable and that Malta will not be in- vesting in lethal weapons. Roll forward a couple of weeks and in a case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, in Brussels Abela simply signed on to the conclusions that speak of the need for increased defence spending and military sup- port for Ukraine. We will not be surprised if the Prime Min- ister back pedals once again on his idea to re- form the human rights convention by blam- ing the media for taking his remarks out of context. Reforming a 75-year-old convention – if it even needs reforming – that is fundamen- tal to the protection of our human rights is a serious matter that requires much more thought than a throwaway comment. But it is also concerning that the Prime Minister keeps making such significant policy state- ments like a magician pulling out a surprise rabbit from his hat. The problem is that we are not talking about a fun magic show here but a country's reputation in international fora. Malta deserves better. Quote of the Week "There are those who insist on being cowboys… Everyone who knows me knows I like to achieve things through dialogue, but enough is enough, this disgusting attitude has reached all limits." Valletta Mayor Olaf McKay in a Facebook post after a restaurant in Merchant Street ignored orders to remove outside tables, chairs and umbrellas so that a religious procession could pass by during the feast of St Joseph the Worker celebrated in the capital. MaltaToday 10 years ago 22 March 2015 Cafe Premier owner's lawyer was Lands' consultant STEFANO Filletti, the lawyer rep- resent- ing Café Premier shareholder Mario Camill- eri, was also a consult- ant for the Govern- ment Property Division at the same time that Cities Entertainment Ltd was negotiat- ing with both the government, as well as en- trepreneur Anglu Xuereb to sell their public lease on the Valletta cafeteria. Filletti – unavailable for comment until going to print yesterday – is flagged by the NAO report into the €4.2 million govern- ment reacqui- sition of the Café Premier lease as having played an "ambiguous" role in the affair. The report shows that although the GPD, which paid Filletti a monthly €2,500 retainer until Janu- ary 2014, said the lawyer with- drew from the process in view of his con- flict of interest, Filletti was actually involved at an advanced stage of the reacquisition. MaltaToday has established that in late June 2013, Cities Entertain- ment's co-share- holder, Neville Cur- mi, had reached a deal to sell the en- tire company to Anglu Xuer- eb's AX Holdings for €3.5 million. But on the day scheduled for the signing of the contract, Mario Camilleri failed to show up. The deal fell through. In the background, unbeknown to Curmi, Camilleri was negotiating with the OPM's advisor John Scib- erras, having in June 2013 been of- fered a handsome €4.2 million, net of capital gains tax, for the Café Pre- mier lease. The chronology clearly suggests that Camilleri was confident he would get a better deal from the government, and that he made an attempt to take over the entire com- pany before securing the deal. ...