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MW 31 August 2016

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WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION €1.00 Newspaper post PG 9 • Editorial WEDNESDAY • 31 AUGUST 2016 • ISSUE 484 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY Grassroots may still not have warmed up to Busuttil There's no open rebellion inside the PN, but Busuttil has to take stock of grassroots' complaints MATTHEW VELLA A groundswell of complaints from grassroots over the performance of Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil has captured the Labour propaganda machine's imagina- tion, as it attempts to dampen the PN's forthcoming Independence celebrations. The 21st September celebrations will be another occasion for Bu- suttil to make his mark with party supporters after a summer of ap- parent inaction which even left some MPs smarting at missed op- portunities for the PN. The most recent was the relative silence by the Opposition on Slie- ma residents' concerns over per- mits issued for high-rise projects in what is a staunch Nationalist constituency. Since then, the Labour machine has picked up on the apparent dis- satisfaction among grassroots PN supporters, pushing the line in its media that Busuttil was facing an open rebellion from MPs. But three Nationalist MPs – from three different electoral dis- tricts – who spoke to MaltaToday were all in agreement that Busuttil was not facing a leadership threat, even though polling numbers from both Labour and PN quarters over the past weeks had dealt a demor- alizing blow to the inner party core. "What is happening is that our activists complain about the lack- lustre performance of Busuttil and it's becoming all too impossible for them not to notice it. But MPs are intent on pulling the same rope as we get closer to what could be an election year," one MP, from a southern district, said. Another MP, this time from a central district, said he was aware of the activists' gripes but dis- missed the Labour spin on MPs pushing for a leadership change. "The polling numbers indicate that we need to work harder and that Busuttil has to make his mark, if we are to have a decent showing. But of those MPs who harbour leadership ambitions, nobody is going to make a move to end up tainted with an elec- toral loss in 2017 or 2018." Gzira council goes to court to reclaim Manoel Island foreshore TIM DIACONO THE Gzira local council has filed a judicial protest against MIDI to demand that the development consortium open up Manoel Island 's foreshore to the public. "Gzira is located by the sea and yet residents have no- where else to swim in their own locality, besides Manoel Island," Gzira mayor Conrad Borg Manche told MaltaTo- day. "The foreshore belongs to the public, and MIDI should enclose a space by the Sliema front where residents can swim." The judicial protest, signed by law yers Edward Woods and Keith Borg, accuses MIDI of blocking off access to the foreshore to the detri- ment of Gzira residents. It notes that a 99-year em- phyteusis granted to MIDI back in June 2000 for the regeneration of Manoel Island and Tigne spe- cifically excluded the is- land 's foreshore. However, MIDI chief executive Luke Cop- pini warned in com- ments to MaltaTo- day that turning Manoel Island 's foreshore into a free-for-all swim- ming zone is not an option, as it risks opening the f lood- gates to vandalism and drug abuse on the island. PAGE 5 PAGE 5 Polluting fish farms to face emergency enforcement orders OPERATORS IN BREACH OF REGULATIONS FACE EMERGENCY ENFORCEMENTS ORDER, RISK HAVING FISH RELEASED INTO THE SEA IF THEY PERSIST WITH ILLEGALITIES • PAGE 8 Three MPs said Simon Busuttil is not facing a leadership threat

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