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€0.90 WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION WEDNESDAY • 5 february 2014 • issue 350 • published every wednesday and sunday Editorial - PAGE 11 Newspaper post SEE BACK PAGE Major reshuffle expected Performing ministers to be retained, underperformers to be substituted PRIME Minister Joseph Muscat has insisted on not commenting on any reshuffle in his Cabinet. Yet aides confirm that Muscat "is in a very pensive mood" willing to take advantage of the window of oppor- tunity created by the vacuum in the Presidency and EU Commissioner's job. Word is out that Muscat is to announce a major reshuffle of his first administration before the run up to the European parliamentary elections. "The underperformers will be castigated, the stars promoted," a source told MaltaToday. A prime ministerial source stopped short of divulging anything but sim- ply confirmed that: "Yes it is on the cards." Another aide confirmed that underperformers would be substi- tuted. Finance minister Edward Scicluna and Health Minister Godfrey Far- rugia top the list of underperform- ers and the rising stars are Owen Bonnici, Edward Zammit Lewis and Ian Borg. Ministers who have gained brownie points for their dedication and commitment are Konrad Mizzi, Marie Louise Coleiro, Evarist Barto- lo, Joe Mizzi and Chris Cardona and may retain their position. Over the past few days, Godfrey Farrugia has been in a press frenzy, organising conferences and press events – a clear indication of his un- easiness at being targeted as an un- derperformer. He is seen as the min- ister least suitable for his role, and it is expected that he will be moved. Edward Scicluna, an economist by profession, is considered to be a reluc- tant politician, and appears to be – as one source recounted – 'too unwired' to even realise that his political future is at stake. In fact he may well take a demotion as godsend. The prime minister also has an- other hurdle: to nominate a Commis- sioner to replace Tonio Borg and the President to replace George Abela. Though the front-runners appear to be George Vella and Louis Grech, it is a well-known fact that Joseph Muscat wants a female candidate as President. His choice is very limited but it may well include a female from his Cabinet. All the changes will offer new op- portunities, but those who lose out on a portfolio may end up creating 'potential problems' for Muscat, as has been the case with Marlene Far- rugia – a maverick backbencher who has continued to serve as a vocal op- ponent to many of Muscat's policies. On the other hand, a reshuffle will bolster Muscat's political standing in the polls. EU legal services to start 'negotiations' with Cyprus over 'non-residency' requirement THE EU legal services will be opening negotiations with Cyprus after negotiations with Malta over residency were concluded. Both Cyprus and Austria have citizen- ship schemes but none of these countries obliges its applicants to 'have a proof ' of residency. Inside sources at the legal servic- es confirmed with MaltaToday that there was no obligation for the EU to impose a proof of residency, but political pressure from the Europe- an parliament led the legal services to take extraordinary action with Malta. It appears that during the negotia- tions with the Maltese delegation, the issue of Cyprus was raised and the legal services indicated to the delegation that Cyprus – which has had a citizenship scheme – would be targeted next. Yesterday, parliamentary secre- tary Owen Bonnici together with Peter Grech, the Attorney General, presented the amendments to the IIP legal notice. SEE FULL STORY PAGE 3 CABINET PAPERS REVEALED When contraceptives were 'obscene articles' JAMES DEBONO IN 1962 the newly-elected Na- tionalist government was faced by a legal anomaly: while it was ille- gal to receive contraceptives and any literature on their use by mail, it was not illegal to im- port contraceptives through customs. The issue was re- solved by introduc- ing a complete ban on imports of contra- ceptives. The Minister pre- sented a detailed memorandum on this issue to cabinet for In- dustrial Development and Tour- ism on 3 November 1962. The memorandum referred to the post office act, which made it illegal to transmit by post, any in- decent or obscene print, pictures lithograph, engraving, card or any "indecent article". The memo refers to a ruling by the Attorney General in 1947, which concluded that books "di- vulging the means or explaining the ways of contraception" were indecent. The AG also ruled that contraceptives themselves "were indecent and obscene articles". But this did not apply to goods which were imported through cus- toms, as these were regulated by a government notice, which prohib- ited the importation of "any in- decent, obscene or impious print, newspaper or printed matter". The Attorney General had con- cluded that this did not empower governments to withhold the release of contraceptives. "Thus there is the anomaly that contra- ceptives are stopped when sent by mail in small quantities but are allowed to be imported when sent in large quantities through Customs." In order to remove the anomaly the Attorney General a legal no- tice to enable customs to withhold the release of contraception from customs. SEE PAGES 8 - 9