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€1.20 maltatoday YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT CHARLES XUEREB INTERVIEW PGS 12-13 Download the MaltaToday App now SUNDAY • 12 JANUARY 2014 • ISSUE 740 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAMES GALEA Massive 24-block 'Maltese village' proposed for Naxxar trade fair JAMES DEBONO Hannes Swoboda, leader of the European Parliament's socialists, at a Labour mass meeting in 2013 - he said Malta's passport sale 'reflects a worrying trend' 'Citizenship sale undermines European values' - Swoboda HANNES Swoboda, the President of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament – which is home to Labour's four MEPs – has given the clearest of indications that he does not support Malta's sale of EU passports by the Labour government. In a clear statement outlining his reasoning, Swoboda – who had addressed a Labour mass meeting in last year's general elections – said that linking EU citizenship to income "undermined European values". Malta is selling passports for €650,000, in a bid to raise funds for a national posterity fund. Applicants must also buy property worth €350,000 and invest €150,000 in government bonds, but these can be redeemed after five years. Swoboda said the decision for Malta to sell EU citizenship to third country nationals reflected "a worrying trend in the conception of all those rights related to EU citizenship, including above all freedom of movement." CONTINUES PAGE 3 CONTINUES PAGE 8 National Bank of Malta - human rights breach may have wider implications THE legal representative for the National Bank shareholders has hinted that a demand for compensation for the expropriation of their bank may be one of the avenues pursued in the light of a constitutional ruling last Thursday. "The government is still sitting on a large proportion of the shares in Bank of Valletta which still continues to enjoy the properties of the National Bank," Max Ganado said. Government retains 25% shareholding in BOV, which in 1973 took over all the NBM's assets, including immoveable property, after these had only just been valued as 'worthless'. Thursday's Court ruling appears to vindicate the NBM shareholders' core argu- ment that the 1973 takeover was illegal, and that the legal instruments that permitted the establishment of the Bank of Valletta in 1974 were in violation of their human rights, and therefore illegal. Raphael Vassallo analyses the implications of this historic decision in pages 1011 Finding a weight loss regime that really works Finding a weight loss regime that really works Pretty in pink Pretty in pink Finding a weigh loss regim t e that reall y works Pretty in pink YOUR FREE COPY OF VIDA INSIDE Don't just listen to us, listen to our clients 99% rate our service as good or excellent 77% have already recommended us to their family and friends* Avoid long waiting lists and choose your own doctor in your time of need Ask Atlas for a health insurance quote on 21 322 600 or atlas.com.mt People you can trust Atlas Healthcare Insurance Agency Limited is authorized under the Insurance Intermediaries Act 2006, to act as agents for AXA PPP healthcare Limited and is regulated by the MFSA. *In a 2013 survey of more than 400 claimants. Newspaper post MATTHEW VELLA THE owners of the former trade fair grounds in Naxxar are seeking planning permission for a massive 24 residential and office blocks, which will include two eight-storey towers. Despite the local plan policy limiting development in Naxxar to a maximum of five storeys, the proposal includes two eight-storey tower blocks and five six-storey blocks. The rest of the development will include two five-storey blocks, seven four-storey blocks, four three-storey blocks, and four two-storey blocks. The project has been modelled as "Maltese village" by its architect Ray Demicoli, who in the past worked on the Portomaso marina complex, and includes a supermarket, a retail centre and a local centre on the westernmost part of the site.