MaltaToday previous editions

maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 25 JUNE 2014 3 News CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The MTA is made up of 11 voting members and of the chief executive, who is a non-voting member. Ac- cording to the law regulating the authority, six persons are appointed by the minister according to their knowledge and experi- ence of the sector; one person is nominated by the MHRA; another member is nominat- ed by travel agents; one is nominated by Air Malta and two others on the recommenda- tion of such other associations recognised by the minister as representing other sec- tors providing travel and tourism services. Arrigo, the Nationalist Party's spokes- person on tourism, said the situation at the MTA was unacceptable. "A month has passed and MTA is still without a board. This is illegal and without a precedent. Last week parliament debated the authority's financial estimates without a board being constituted," he said. Arrigo said the Opposition agreed to go ahead with the parliamentary debate be- cause it wanted to be a positive opposition and ensure that the tourism industry gets the budgeted funds without any delays. During the parliamentary debate, Arrigo insisted that things should only be repaired if they are broken: "The MTA is not broken. The authority was a success and the suc- cess enjoyed by the tourism sector was also thanks to the MTA. These persons should not be sidelined." Replying, Zammit Lewis said no one was being sidelined and he had no intention of sidelining anyone. "It's as if a change in the minister [respon- sible for tourism] has created a bad situa- tion. If he [Arrigo] does not have faith in me, I do believe in myself and I am determined to continue running this sector success- fully," the minister said, in reply to Arrigo's parliamentary intervention. Zammit Lewis added that the authority's accounts had already been approved by a le- gally constituted board. mdalli@mediatoday.com.mt TIM ATTARD MONTALTO THE European Economic and Social Committee president, Henri Malosse said that the EU needed to change its policy on immigration, whereby the bur- den of irregular immigrants should be shared by all member states and not just the country of their arrival. Malosse was speaking to the media at Dar l-Ewropa in Val- letta at the start of his second day of a three-day visit to Mal- ta. "A solution to this problem will only be found if there is pressure coming from indi- vidual member states, the EU parliament, citizens and other EU institutions. Malosse said it was not neces- sary to find one common policy, explaining that different coun- tries used different methods to integrate legal migrants and cater for irregular migrants, but there was a need to form "a chain of good practices". Malosse said he had met with both Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca during separate visits yesterday, when specific island policies were discussed. "The EESC is in favour of is- lands and small countries seek- ing new routes of investment while preserving their identity," he said, adding that it was his belief that the IIP scheme was a case of national competence. "The EU should not be an umpire where everything is de- cided at the top," he said. MIRIAM DALLI NUMEROUS questions have been raised in parliament in connection with phone tapping carried out by the Malta Security Service and answers will only be given in the security com- mittee, which meets in private. However, it is not clear whether Op- position Leader Simon Busuttil intends to share that information with the pub- lic once a meeting of the security com- mittee is convened in the first week of July. "I fully intend to raise all unanswered parliamentary questions during the upcoming security committee meeting in July," Busuttil said in reply to Malta- Today's questions. He however stopped short of reply- ing to the second part of MaltaToday's questions, in which this newspaper asked whether he planned to reveal the information that is being requested in parliament. The committee, which includes Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia and Busuttil, oversees the operations of the Security Service. The Monitoring Committee for the Scrutiny of Malta Security Services has not met since June 2013 – that meeting, too, was held at the request of the Op- position leader. The Opposition is now pressing the government to publish the annual report on the Security Service. Recent statistics showed that mobile phone operator Vodafone received 3,773 requests in Malta for metadata, leading to concerns that Malta is the most spied-on nation in the European Union. Metadata can include clients' names and addresses, device locations, and the times of calls and messages. Single warrants can target hundreds of people and several warrants can be for infor- mation about a single individual. Malta is one of just eight Vodafone countries where telephony operators are legally barred from providing infor- mation on the extent of wire tapping. This puts Malta in the same league with countries such as Albania, Egypt, India, Qatar, South Africa, and Turkey. Backbencher Marlene Farrugia has also asked how many phone tapping re- quests were filed between January 2013 to date, how many requests were filed following Labour's election in March 2013, how long a tapping order lasts, how many email and SMS accounts are tapped and whether there are any plans to remove the minister's power to order phone tapping. During her intervention in parlia- ment on Monday evening, Nationalist MP Kristy Debono said it should be the government's own initiative – and not the operator's – to publish statistics on metadata. "The government must publish the number of warrants issued every year to allow interceptions and the number of interceptions that actually took place. We need a transparent logging system," the MP said. She went on to suggest that it should no longer be the minister who issues the warrant while there should be judi- cial surveillance of the security service system. Debono said the security committee should be convened regularly and the frequency of these meetings should be regulated by law. She joined her fellow MPs in call- ing for the publication of the Security Service's annual report and also called for a legal framework that is regularly updated and reflects advancements in technology. Nationalist MP says absence of MTA board 'without precedent' EESC president calls for change to migration policy Busuttil won't commit on revealing information about phone tapping WIN A HOLIDAY TO BRAZIL PLUS MANY OTHER PRIZES TO BE WON EVERYDAY! 1. Reveal the promotional code found on the back of the label. 2. Log on to pepsifootball.com.mt and follow the instructions. Busuttil intends raising unanswered PQs in Security Committee Edward Zammit Lewis (centre): No one is being sidelined Henri Malosse

• Cover