Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/459448
Busuttil accuses Muscat of 'selling soul for votes', demands publication of pre-electoral deal • Labour fight back with 9 March 2013 voting day email promising Ordnance Street relocation Win two Virtù Ferries tickets with our photo competition PAGE 16 Newspaper post YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT FIMBank p.l.c. is a licensed credit institution regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority and listed on the Malta Stock Exchange. The Bank is a participant in the Depositor Compensation Scheme in Malta. Terms and conditions apply. 2132 2102 helpdesk@easisave.com www.easisave.com 2132 2102 2132 2102 No Hidden Fees or Bank Charges Easy, Flexible and Secure Visit our website, open your online bank account and start beneting from superior interest rates on your savings and xed term deposit accounts. 3 year: 3.00% 2 year: 2.85% 1 year: 2.50% Euro Fixed Term Deposit Minimum Deposit €1,000 Rates of interest are on a gross per annum basis Euro Savings Account Minimum Deposit €50 1.75 % Hunters reconsider boycott to appease political parties Desperate political parties gave up Ordnance Street to get hawkers' votes TIM DIACONO AN email published by the Labour Party yesterday served as a crude reminder of a last-minute electoral promise made by the former lands minister Jason Azzopardi, pledging the relocation of the monti hawkers to Ordnance Street by December 1, 2013. The publication of the email ap- peared to put paid to Opposition lead- er Simon Busuttil's accusation that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had 'sold his soul for votes' over the hawk- ers' relocation on Ordnance Street and beneath the new parliament de- signed by Renzo Piano. The email, dated March 9, 2013 – voting day – copied to then PN sec- retary-general Paul Borg Olivier at 4:13pm, was published after Busuttil said he would move out Monti hawk- ers from Ordnance Street. Azzopardi's email, whose content the former minister had already con- firmed in an earlier news report back in March 2013, confirms that the Na- tionalist administration was support- ing the monti relocation to Ordnance Street. "I am authorized to inform you that a Nationalist government will commit itself to a relocation of the monti from Merchants' Street to Ordnance Street by no later than 1 December 2013," Azzopardi wrote. In the email he clarifies that the relocation will apply to the daily flea market and that the area will not spill over into Republic Street – a fac- tor that alone differs from Labour's original intention to have the hawkers cross over Republic Street. The email published by the Labour Party blanks out the name of one of the recipients of the email. Although not included in their manifesto, former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi had met hawkers at the offices of PN think-tank AZAD in Valletta, together with Simon Busuttil in March 2012. During the meeting, hawkers' representative Emanuel Bu- hagiar had said that hawker numbers were dwindling due to the terrible conditions on Merchants' Street. CONTINUES PAGE 10 Winter Warmers: A bowlful of comfort Valentine's Day specials TODAY www.gourmettoday.recipes ISSUE NUMBER 32 FEBRUARY 2015 NOT FOR SALE TODAY TODAY TODAY ISSUE NUMBER 32 FEBRUARY 2015 Healthier eating for winter FREE WITH MALTATODAY YOUR COPY OF GOURMET TODAY €1.40 maltatoday SUNDAY • 8 FEBRUARY 2015 • ISSUE 796 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY LABOUR and the Nationalist party are hoping hunters' federation FKNK will not call on members to boycott the 11 April referendum on the aboli- tion of spring hunting, so as not to af- fect local council election turnouts. A majority of Labour-led councils, including those mainly populated by voters from the hunting fraternity, will be elected on the same day as the spring hunting referendum. The possible boycott was the subject of lengthy discussions inside FKNK by the hunters' federation FKNK. The councils up for re-election in- clude Siggiewi and several Gozitan villages. Objecting from the very start to the referendum, FKNK president Joe Perici Calascione said on Xarabank last Friday that the lobby's final deci- sion will be taken on 21 February. CONTINUES PAGE 11 Crime feasts? New study claims Maltese festa generates spike in prostitution and other crimes • PG 11