Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/715731
8 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 17 AUGUST 2016 News IN ALL LEADING BOOK SHOPS HISTORY OF ORNITHOLOGY IN MALTA Maltese illustrator wins World Illustration Award MALTESE illustrator Julian Mal- lia, better known as Julinu, has clinched himself the 2016 the As- sociation of Illustrators' award for the Advertising- New Talent Award. The illustration, 'Maia's Morn- ing Malaise', was created to pro- mote the short film Loophole, a movie which is part of an MA in Sequential Design / Illustration at the University of Brighton, and which currently exists as an oil- on-paper, stop-motion animation trailer and an accompanying sto- ryboard book. Julinu told The Guardian that the final illustration consists of three oil paintings that were scanned and digitally merged in a process reminiscent of photo- graphic double exposure. The Maltese illustrator is a graduate of the University of Brighton and he has spent a num- ber of years working in the adver- tising industry in local compa- nies like JP Advertising and Pure Concepts among others. He cur- rently works as a freelancer and he was previously shortlisted for an AOI World Illustration Award in 2015 for his entry entitled "The Plight of the Homeless Orca". Julian Mallia's 'Maia's Morning Malaise', has won him a World Illustration Award Konrad Mizzi could be summoned by MEPs CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 The legal remarks were prepared by the Council 's legal service to guide member states on any matters relating to the Euro- pean Parliament's committee of inquiry, which will consid- er summoning EU ministers to testif y on the Panama Pa- pers revelations. In their conclusions, the legal service told EU govern- ments that the Panama Papers committee did not "specif y with a sufficient level of pre- cision" what the facts of the inquiry are, or which EU laws have been contravened or ad- ministered wrongfully. "The unspecific and gener- ic character of the facts on which the EP decision is based does not allow neither the Member States nor the Coun- cil to assess their obligation to participate in the works of the committee of inquiry," the le- gal service said. The legal service argued that member states must be clearly shown what the inquiry's fac- tual and legal elements are, so that they can determine whether they are even obliged to participate. "Were this not the case, Member States and the Council may validly refuse participation so that their rights and interests are preserved." The legal service further added that the committee risked altering the balance that allows the Council the sole power to harmonise taxa- tion laws. "By seeking to exercise a general and unqualified con- trol over the manner in which Member States apply their national laws and regulations to combat tax evasion, the active role which the EP as- signs itself by setting up this committee of inquiry with a very wide mandate extends the current powers of the Un- ion in the field of taxation, encroaching thus upon those that remain with the Member States." The legal service said MEPs' power of political control was laid down in the Treaty of the European Union but that this "cannot become a gen- eral clause of accountability of Member States before the Parliament." "The purpose of a commit- tee of inquiry cannot be to substitute itself for the Com- mission by asking Member States to provide it with infor- mation on the transposition and implementation of Union acts, unless this request is duly founded through a link with alleged contraventions or facts of maladministration in the application of these acts of Union law." Mizzi: No communication from MEPs yet One of the MEPs who sits on the committee, Germany Green MEP Sven Giegold, said Malta's former energy minis- ter Konrad Mizzi – the only EU minister to have set up a Panama offshore company through Mossack Fonseca to hide his beneficial ownership while in office – "should con- sider preparing for an invita- tion" but cautioned that the committee should only sum- mon witnesses after a thor- ough study of tax avoidance regimes. On his part, minister Mizzi told MaltaToday yesterday that he had not received any correspondence from the committee. "If I receive cor- respondence I will respond at the time," the now 'minister without portfolio' said. Mizzi had the energy port- folio removed after a month of deliberation by Prime Min- ister Joseph Muscat since the Panama Papers were leaked, which revealed Mizzi and Muscat's chief of staff Keith Schembri used Mossack Fon- seca to set up a Panamanian offshore company and off- shore trust in New Zealand to manage their wealth and future business interests. Despite repeated calls for resignation from civil society groups and the Opposition, Muscat chose self-preserva- tion and reshuff led his Cabi- net, in a bid not to alienate Labour members. Nationalist MEPs Roberta Metsola and David Casa (EPP) are members of the Panama Papers committee. The committee will also in- vestigate a potential breach of the duty of "sincere coopera- tion", a principle enshrined in the Treaty of the EU, by any member state that failed to take the appropriate meas- ures to prevent the operation of vehicles that allow to hide their ultimate beneficial own- ers from financial institutions and other intermediaries, law yers, trust and company service providers – including looking at the role of trusts, single-member private lim- ited liability companies and virtual currencies. Minister Konrad Mizzi [left] and OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri could be summoned by MEPs