Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/567101
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 SEPTEMBER 2015 26 Letters Editorial • 4 September 2005 Brussels keeps MEPs' finances under wraps THE European Parliament has told MaltaToday it will not be making public the amounts of allowances received by each MEP, claiming the financial statements contain per- sonal data protected by the provisions of regulation 45/2001. The request has now been forwarded to the par- liament's secretary-general Julian Priestley. Except for Labour MEP Joseph Muscat, Malta's MEPs ignored a request by MaltaTo- day to make public their finan- cial statements for the 2004-05 legislature. Muscat said his expenditure, including wages and salaries, will be independently audited and duly published. "I am com- plying fully with all European Parliament reporting regula- tions and requirements in con- nection to these and all other related issues." Labour MEP John Attard Montalto had also declared in a per- sonal statement he would publish his an- nual accounts follow- ing "strong criticism in the media" about the European Parliament's system of perks and privileges for MEPs. MaltaToday's re- ports on the EP salary and allowance system revealed how Maltese MEPs can potentially earn up to Lm40,000 every year from sala- ries, travel and transport allow- ances, and daily allowances. Travelling light According to Hans-Peter Martin, an independent MEP who left the socialist group af- ter revealing fellow MEPs had been skiving their duties whilst signing the attendance register, MEPs enjoy privileges which include exorbitant daily allow- ances of €268 (Lm113) for every committee meeting, €45,420 for office expenses and €150,552 for staff employment annu- ally (Lm83,000), apart from ex- tremely generous arrangements for the reimbursement of medi- cal expenses from Parliament's budget and free life insurance. MEPs also get all their travel expenses reimbursed, as well as a distance allowance calculated on the distance they travel from their point of departure to Brus- sels or Strasbourg. Martin says it is not just MEPs from southern Europe – the furthest away from the Brussels parliament – who are making the most profits on their travel allowances. Martin himself declared hav- ing received as much as €62,000 (Lm26,000) in lump sums for his travel costs in 2002. His real costs were €21,000 (Lm9,000), land- ing a profit of some Lm17,000 in one year. The fact is that even if an MEP flies with a low-cost air- line, the European Parliament is reimbursing the MEP with an unrestricted economy class fare. According to the European Parliament, this allowance is es- timated to earn Maltese MEPs and extra €1,000 (Lm429), every week they travel for work. Where is our fuel money going? We pay dearly for our car fuels, and I think there is something to the Nationalist Party's claim that the government is keeping their price high, but does not the PN have the wherewithal to estab- lish the veracity of the claim? Of course, the PN played the same game when they ran the show, so they cannot claim to be lily white in this. But having fiddled with the prices in their time, they should surely know where to look to learn what is going on. However, what matters is now. We pay VAT to buy our car, tax on fuel, VAT on mechanical re- pairs, the road licence cannot be said to be cheap, we have insur- ance costs, pay tax on the parts we buy for repairs, and I do not know what other costs motorists have. And what do the motorists get in return – not even decent roads. We have been promised a roads improvement programme but surely more can be done to improve arterial and secondary roads without more delay – is it possible that the Salina coast road works have taken up all of the government's resources? I wonder, is the recently an- nounced supplement for the start of the school year coming from our fuel taxes? Are motorists footing the costs of this multi- million handout to "those in need" – why are they in need, are they too lazy to work? Joe Borg Birkirkara Catholicism does not need 'protection' The panic recently exhibited by some Catholic correspondents regarding the proposed repealing of the law against the "vilifying" of their religion was uncalled for. History shows that the Catholic Church can protect its religion very well, thank you –if necessary by resorting to violence. The militancy of the Catholic Church is matched by the bellig- erence of its "Christian" followers, who will come out in full force to protect their religion. If you dare to criticise their cherished talismans, such as the crucifix, or to challenge their favourite bugbears, such as abortion, their hysteria will break loose in a steady stream of write-ups and letters in local newspapers. In addition to its fanatical fol- lowers, the Catholic Church in Malta has another line of defence, through the support it receives from public figures, such as lawyers and university profes- sors, who are in cahoots with the Church. As long as the Church has such influential "secular" allies on its side, it does not need any laws reminiscent of the Inquisition to "protect" its religion. John Guillaumier St Julian's Reduced entrance fees to museums On the occasion of Santa Maria I and my better half decided to visit the recently refurbished St Elmo and National War Museum in Valletta. We were frankly quite im- pressed with what we saw. The main exhibits are spread out over seven or eight rooms relating to different periods of the history of St Elmo and of Malta in general. One needs a good two to three hours to view the whole Museum properly and also to do justice to the various videos relating to dif- ferent periods of Maltese history. I would like to compliment Heritage Malta for a job well done. One suggestion is that open days with reduced entrance fees targeted especially at the Maltese public should be more frequent, hopefully encouraging more interest in Malta's past. Paul Edgar Micallef Valletta Simon Busuttil, the PN, and their apologists are making a song and dance on the "tempo- rary" permit MEPA gave to Joe Gaffarena to operate the petrol pumps and car-wash parts of his Qormi petrol station. The rest had been sealed by MEPA and are still sealed and cannot be used to this very day. Most probably the vast major- ity of what your readers do not know is that besides the fact that the full development permit for that petrol station was origi- nally issued on 23 January, 2007, the representative of the PN on the MEPA Board had voted in favour of the permit given to Mr Joe Gaffarena, after the PL came to power in March 2013! Perhaps one can now start to understand the political hypoc- risy of the party in opposition. Eddy Privitera Mosta I would like to receive the newspaper MaltaToday for a period of one year. Name & Surname .................................................................. Telephone: ........................................ Address ...................................................................................... E-mail: ........................................ FOR €67 YOU CAN RECEIVE THE MALTATODAY, FOR A PERIOD OF ONE YEAR. Send a cheque payable to MediaToday to: Subscriptions, MediaToday, Vjal il-Rihan, San Gwann, SGN 9016 The newspapers are delivered by post and therefore subject to the usual postal timings. Normally, MaltaToday should arrive on Monday. SUBSCRIPTION FORM MEPA board members supporting Gaffarenas