Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/195525
16 News maltatoday, SUNDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2013 MP chairing economic affairs committee sees no conflict in ministerial appointment MATTHEW VELLA CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 Schembri has claimed he was previously a similarly-appointed consultant in the ministry for rural affairs, a claim that has been disputed by none other than the former Nationalist minister George Pullicino. Schembri says that as manager of the GAL Xlokk foundation, an NGO formed by a group of local councils, his salary was paid partly through funds from the rural development plan, through the rural affairs ministry, and through the Malta-Italy financial instrument falling under the Office of the Prime Minister. "After the election I was asked to perform the same work, with the same pay, but on the electoral measures that fall under the responsibility of the minister for the economy." But as pointed out by George Pullicino, Schembri was not a politicallyappointed consultant of his ministry. On the other hand, Schembri was employed by the local councils that L to R: Chris Cardona, Silvio Schembri and Silvio Parnis form the board of the GAL Xlokk foundation to manage EU funding. Amongst the board members are Luqa mayor John Schembri, the MP's father. In comments to MaltaToday, Schembri played down the fact that his role as a minister's political appointee compromised his loyalty to his constituents. "Not at all. I am elected to represent my constituents and to see that the electoral promises made by the party in the electoral manifesto are implemented, because the people voted for those measures." As chair of the parliamentary economic and financial committee, Schembri also earns an additional €5,727 honorarium apart from his MP's honorarium of €19,092. But he also says that his ministerial appoint- Silvio Schembri with Joseph Muscat: Prime Minister Joseph Muscat (right) intends to appoint MPs on government boards, with remuneration over and above their parliamentary honoraria ment does not put him in conflict with the role of an MP vetting the work of the ministry. "The work of the committee is to, on its own initiative, consider from an economic and financial perspective any decision, recommendation or report published locally, by the European institutions or by international organisations, that could have an impact on the Maltese economy; request persons appointed by the government to represent it on the governing and administrative organs of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), and request the Governor of the Central Bank of Malta to appear before the committee. "The Central Bank, the ESM or the European Financial Stability Facility do not fall under the responsibility of the ministry of the economy – it's up to the Public Accounts Committee to vet the work of all ministries, including that of the economy," Schembri said. Schembri's appointment is so far the only where an MP was publicly revealed in the House of Representatives. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat intends appointing MPs on government boards, with remuneration over and above their parliamentary honoraria. Traditionally MPs, as legislators, are not appointed on executive government boards but former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi had appointed Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando as chairman of the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) on a €13,000 salary while other backbenchers were given the role of parliamentary assistants with an extra €10,000 added to their honorarium. Nationalist MP and former minister Censu Galea was also appointed chairman of the Building Industry Consultative Council. The chairmanship is now held by Labour MP Charles Buhagiar. Another Labour MP, Michael Falzon, chairs the Malta Environment and Planning Authority's working group on firework factories while at the same time being a lobbyist and legal representative for the Malta Pyrotechnics Association. Falzon has also been appointed commissioner against bureaucracy. Both appointments were carried out by parliamentary secretary for planning. Gonzi's decision to appoint parliamentary assistants was a move to quell internal dissent. Despite the criticism from the Labour Party, Joseph Muscat is proposing changes to a law precluding MPs from sitting on government bodies. Malta calls for EU funds to address traffic congestion DURING a bilateral meeting held in Tallinn, Estonia, between Transport Minister Joe Mizzi and Pat Cox, former President of the European Parliament and Ten-T coordinator, Malta raised its case on the need of improving traffic management and addressing traffic bottlenecks, most particularly at the Addolorata junction area. Mizzi was accompanied by Transport Malta CEO James Piscopo and Jonathan Grech, the deputy prime minister's chief of staff. The minister highlighted the importance of the allocation of specific EU funds for this project. Mizzi said Malta's traffic bottleneck problem was spreading from the traditional peak hours into other hours of the day. "Recent experience has shown us that traffic incidents on Malta's TEN-T core network have the potential of causing nationwide disruption to transport services, resulting in passengers missing flights and freight operators missing vital lifeline connecting ferry services to the rest of Europe. All this comes at a great cost to society, tourism and the economy," Mizzi argued. At the end of this meeting, Mizzi invited Cox to visit Malta. Mizzi also participated in the TEN-T Days 2013 ministerial conference, chaired by the Vice-President of the EU Commission, Siim Kallas. While expressing Malta's full commitment towards developing and finalising its core TEN-T network before the year 2030, the minister said that national planning is underway to develop and implement project pipelines that are aimed at alleviating traffic congestion. During this conference, ministers, members of European Parliament and key stakeholders discussed the future development of the trans-European transport network and implementation of the new trans-European network guidelines, with a special focus on financing, innovation and implementation tools. "Malta, being a small island state on the southernmost periphery of Europe, depends heavily on the strength of its transport connections, both internally and externally," Mizzi said. "We therefore welcome the agreement on the guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network, as the development of the TEN-T core network is fundamentally an important step forward in the facilitation the seamless transport of passengers and goods across Europe and, through external air, sea, road, rail and inland waterway gateway nodes to the rest of the world." He also said that Malta forms the first or final leg of Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor that will facilitate further integration of Malta into European transport networks through the further development of motor- Transport Minister Joe Mizzi and Transport Malta CEO James Piscopo ways of the sea. "Development of the national road network," he added, "which internally connects Malta's core sea ports and airport is also high on the political agenda of the Maltese government." With regard to the financing of the TEN-T network, Mizzi said that Malta is in full agreement with the aims and objectives of the Connecting Eu- rope Facility and welcomes the special consideration now given to those smaller countries without railway services in respect of inter-modality requirements. "Innovative financing for TEN-T projects is indeed an interesting concept; however, we feel that it may not be easily applicable in certain situations, not least in the absence of rev- enue flows and economies of scale. Finally, given the limited funding available for the development of the TEN-T, Malta considers it important to keep all general listed priority areas open to funding without focus on new, more specific areas of financial support, which may not be always applicable or appropriate for all member states."