Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/400468
maltatoday PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD Newspaper post CONTINUES PAGES 4-5 YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT INTERVIEW • 12-13 Cremona succumbed to exhaustion after divorce referendum MIRIAM DALLI ARCHBISHOP Paul Cremona's first indication that he should step down as leader of the Maltese Church came in 2012, when he "succumbed to exhaustion" and had to retire to Gozo for a few weeks shortly after the divorce referendum. Yesterday, Apostolic Nuncio Aldo Cavalli formally an- nounced that Pope Francis had accepted Mgr Cremona's resignation, putting into effect a succession process for Malta's new archbishop. Cremona, 68, was appointed archbishop in 2007 and has resigned seven years ahead of the normal resignation age for bishops. A successor is now expected to be appointed within three to five months. Admitting that the divorce referendum had been a most trying period for the Church, Cremona sounded frail during a news conference where he was flanked by Cav- alli and Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna, now the Ap- ostolic Administrator of the Maltese Church. "The archdiocese put much effort in the campaign, but we all know the results," Cremona said. MATTHEW VELLA THE Nationalist government had offered representatives of the Na- tional Bank of Malta's sharehold- ers, €25 million in compensation for the shares they signed over un- der duress to the Mintoff govern- ment in 1973. Former finance minister Tonio Fenech told MaltaToday yester- day that in the second attempt to close a 40-year saga with the NBM shareholders, the Nationalist gov- ernment's offer had been turned down by the shareholders' repre- sentatives. "Any government should see what the fair value of these shares are," Fenech said when asked whether the Labour government should reach an out-of-court settlement with the NBM shareholders, who are now a step closer to compensa- tion after a decision by the Consti- tutional Court was confirmed by a Constitutional Court of Appeal. "Any government should see what the fair value of the shares are be- fore a court gets to decide how much compensation the National Bank shareholders will get." NBM shareholders have however told MaltaToday that no approach has so far been made by the gov- ernment following this week's court decisions. CONTINUES PAGE 9 Illegal St Thomas boathouses to get energy supply Former PN minister: 'We offered National Bank shareholders €25 million settlement' ENEMALTA has announced that it will supply a temporary electric- ity service to boathouse owners at St Thomas Bay, just one year after MEPA's Environment Planning Tri- bunal slammed the energy com- pany for making a request to build an electricity substation outside the development zone to service illegal boathouses in the area. Enemalta's billing company ARMS is currently accepting applications for a temporary electricity supply "with immediate effect and without any obligation or liability for com- pensation" in the case that any of the illegal structures are removed. The temporary supply however does not grant applicants "any right or entitlement on the structure in question". CONTINUES PAGE 6 POPE ACCEPTS RESIGNATION OF ARCHBISHOP SUNDAY • 19 OCTOBER 2014 • ISSUE 780 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY 'I do not exclude anything... it obviously has political connotations' JOE GIGLIO'S POLITICAL FORAY €1.20 PAGE 6 • Country home that won Mintoff family €800,000 in compensation has been sold Art in the autumn, backstage at Malta's theatres, and traditional Maltese music... it's also inside your favourite lifestyle magazine INDULGE WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT L-Gharix sold for €250,000 Art in the autumn, backstage at INDULGE IS FREE WITH MALTATODAY!