Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1540549
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 OCTOBER 2025 NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT OF A CALL FOR PROJECT PROPOSALS UNDER Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan for Malta 2023-2027 The Ministry responsible for European Funds has launched a call for project proposals as indicated hereunder: • Intervention 73.5.4: On-Farm Productive Investments – Vineyard Renewal and Development The call will close on Wednesday 28 th January 2026 at noon. Prospective applicants are encouraged to refer to https://fondi.eu/ to access the CAP Strategic Plan, as well as the Guidance Notes and the application forms related to this call. Information sessions for this call are being organised as follows: • The Oaks Business Centre, Farsons Street, Ħamrun on Wednesday 05th November 2025 • Government Experimental Farm, Mgarr Road, Xewkija on Thursday 06th November 2025 • ARPA Main Offfice, Luqa Road, Għammieri, Qormi on Wednesday 12th November 2025 To register for these information sessions and further information, kindly access the below QR Code or call SEM on 2779 7300. Further queries are to be sent by email on fondi.eu@gov.mt 8"; Uv@ 0a]qpUa_m U^UpMK Um ]aa\U_S Ral @ lM]U@H]M @_K MxiMlUM_IMK0palM\MMiMla_@ Rq]]ûpU^MH@mUmêqpUMmU_I]qKM ^@_@SM^M_p @_K Ia_pla] aR U_vM_paly@_Kmqii]UMmwUpTU_@ mpal@SMR@IU]Upyê 2TM I@_KUK@pM _MMKm pa HM alS@_U|MKë T@lKûwal\U_S @_K @ppM_pUvMê 2a @ii]y mM_K @_ M^@U] paì TlĕKUv@^pêIa^ CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 Matthew Bartolo had just start- ed working at the Construct Furniture factory in Luqa. That day, he was helping his supervi- sor with a woodworking router machine. However, when his su- pervisor started up the machine, Matthew got caught between the moving parts, suffering horrific injuries and multiple fractures before the machine could be stopped. He was rushed to hospi- tal, where staff had tried to restart his heart for over an hour, but he was declared dead at 1:30pm that afternoon. As the family grieved Matthew's death, they found little conso- lation from the company or the courts. In an interview with Mal- taToday, the family said the com- pany never offered an apology or any support. Meanwhile, in court the case for justice took 10 years to see through, and the final sen- tence last week was not the result they had been hoping for. "To this day I feel like I'm still in the dark, that I don't know what happened exactly," Claudette said, sitting in front of a man- tlepiece with Matthew's photos. Last week, the court fined one of the company directors €7,000, finding him guilty of breaching workplace safety laws. The court acquitted the other directors that were charged. The court found that there had been serious lapses in workplace safety, but it was the prosecution that failed to meet the standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt required for the manslaughter charge. When asked whether they feel justice was served, the family an- swered with a resounding 'no'. "They didn't come close," said John Pace, Matthew's grandfa- ther. "This isn't justice." The 10 years since Matthew's death were made all the more painful by the court procedures, which went by at a snail's pace. "One day it's deferred, one day they don't show up to court," Carmen Pace, Matthew's grand- mother, remarked. "Not to men- tion the amount of leave [the parents] had to take and the de- pression they went through." "This case shouldn't have tak- en 10 years," Claudette said her eyes displaying the everlasting pain of losing a child still in his prime. "We waited 10 years just to receive a sentence like that. It doesn't make any sense. We de- serve much better than that, after I lost a son because of someone else's negligence. He had a future ahead of him. How can you not be hurt. How can you even be- lieve in the court system." Malta's long-drawn-out court proceedings are a sore point for many who seek justice, and it has come under scrutiny abroad. In its 2025 Rule of Law report, the European Commission said these persistent delays are a serious concern, with civil, criminal and administrative cases being some of the slowest in the bloc. Mal- ta's judiciary remains under-re- sourced despite ongoing recruit- ment, and the number of judges and magistrates per capita is still among the lowest in the EU. The family had been hoping for a better and just sentence so that they can put the ordeal to rest. But that wasn't the case. Now, the family will appeal the court's de- cision. "We're not going to bring him back, but justice needs to be served." Matthew's grandparents still keep framed photos of him on a cabinet in the living room. Hang- ing above it is a 2016 calendar dedicated to Matthew. "He had many dreams," his mother said. "He was a fan of pyrotechnics, airplanes. He had so much left to do with his life." His grandfather added that Matthew was waiting to turn 18 so that he can work to get his fireworks licence. "That's why he had started working. He want- ed to save up some money for a car, while he was studying at MCAST. He just wanted to work for a little bit." To this day, the family still pre- pares a cake on Matthew's birth- day. They go to the cemetery and sing Happy Birthday to him. "We still feel it so much, despite 10 years having passed," his grand- mother said. "The pain remains." What the family hopes for now is that the next steps in the court process do not drag on the way the initial case did. "I don't think we're asking for something out of this world," Matthew's mum said. "All we ask for is justice, just not in such a long timeframe." WATCH THE INTERVIEW ON MALTATODAY.COM.MT Abandoned by the company, betrayed by the judicial system (From left) Matthew Bartolo's grandmother Carmen, his mother, his grandfather John, and his sister who was born after he died (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)