Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/698019
WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION €1.00 Newspaper post WEDNESDAY • 29 JUNE 2016 • ISSUE 475 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY PG 9 BREXIT? CAUTION Tal-Villagg Cafe & Wine Lounge 77, Triq il-Forn, Lija Tel: 27427058 • 9940 4487 Email: talvillagg@gmail.com talvillagglounge Muscat ready to play broker in Brexit talks MIRIAM DALLI BRUSSELS MALTA may very well be the broker in the exit negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union, part of which will take place during Malta's rotat- ing Presidency of the European Council. Although the UK has yet to trigger Arti- cle 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, outgoing Brit- ish Prime Minister David Cameron said it would be up to his successor to kick start the process and negotiate the exit agree- ment. "We are very well positioned and trust- ed by both sides," Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told MaltaToday, ahead of a dinner between the 27 EU leaders and Cameron. "Our commitment to the European pro- ject is clear and we are very clear in that any arrangement the UK can have with Europe needs to be an inferior arrange- ment to EU membership." Explaining the role which Malta – a for- mer British colony and the current Com- monwealth chair-in-office – could have in the discussions, Muscat said the gov- ernment understood the British position "and we are ideally placed to see that any progress that can be achieved during our Presidency is tangible progress". Malta takes over the EU Presidency in January, with the aim of delivering a Eu- ropean Union which is closer and more sensitive of its citizens' concerns. "It is a matter of attitude: we will not come out with too many proposals that are high in the air but, for example, try to im- plement the single market when it comes to the services sector." The 27 EU leaders are meeting this morning to discuss the future of the EU without the UK. Since the UK voted by 52% to leave the EU, Muscat has been very wary in calling on Britain to activate Article 50, starting the exit process, compared to the Brussels elite, who have been calling on the UK to start the process as soon as possible. "It is disappointing that, when we are faced with the biggest crisis, what's grab- bing the headlines is the obscure Article 50," Muscat said upon his arrival at the European Council in Brussels. Pro-life lawyer files protest against Equality Commission MORNING-AFTER PILL MATTHEW AGIUS A lawyer has taken it upon himself to defend the interests and rights of unborn children against "every violation of their right to life" by taking le- gal action against the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality for its position on the debate on whether to license use of the morning- after pill. Tonio Azzopardi filed a judicial protest against the commission yesterday, calling on the entity to desist from giving support based on "scientifi- cally and legally incorrect considerations." The court action is a reaction to a recent dec- laration by the commission which stated that lack of access to the morning-after pill could be discriminatory. In the judicial protest, the lawyer condemns the declaration as "scientifi- cally, legally and factually mistaken." PAGE 4 'Commission must stop scientifically and legally incorrect claims' DOCTORS POLLED ON EUTHANASIA: 12% GET END-OF-LIFE REQUESTS PG 7 David Cameraon (left) entered the room of EU decision-makers yesterday as the leader of a country that no longer wants to be inside the Union of 28. Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat (right) is not backing a zealous move to have a swift 'Brexit' from the EU PAGE 3