Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/911593
maltatoday SUNDAY 3 DECEMBER 2017 2 News MAPFRE MSV Life p.l.c. is authorised by the Malta Financial Services Authority to carry on long term business under the Insurance Business Act, 1998. COM MSV241117 All MAPFRE MSV Life customers can now benefit from attractive discounts at a wide range of outlets including household goods, hotel accommodation, health and beauty products, electronic equipment and restaurants. To start benefiting from Insure and Save, download the Mapfre Plus mobile application now from the App Store and Google Play. Brussels tax veto plan CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 But Scicluna insisted yesterday that even if the EC were to use the Passerelle rule to circumvent unanimity, there were safe- guards for some of these provi- sions, including the possibility of national parliaments to ob- ject. "I would expect our Parlia- ment like many others would object to the use of such provi- sions by the Commission," Sci- cluna said. A Passerelle clause – French for 'small bridge' – in EU trea- ties allows the alteration of a legislative procedure without a formal amendment of the trea- ties, therefore not requiring na- tional ratification. So far new tax regulations were approved by consensus in the code of conduct committee, Scicluna said. "Peer pressure works well in such circumstances. My read- ing is that the majority of the member states would want to maintain this arrangement which respects the EU treaties," Scicluna said. Malta and Ireland have long argued that being on the pe- riphery of the EU, a low-tax regime is crucial to attract for- eign investment. Malta's tax arrangement that sees com- panies effectively paying tax at 5%. However, the system has often been the target of larger countries that accuse Malta of harbouring tax dodgers, who would otherwise be pay- ing higher taxes in their home country. Changing the tax system would harm Malta's economy and that of other small states. The EU executive has long clamoured for a uniform cor- porate tax base across the EU. The latest effort comes in the wake of Paradise Papers, a new data leak that followed the Panama Papers, which showed how rich people were avoiding tax through complex company structures and the use of low- tax regimes. Bigger EU countries are push- ing for reforms that would re- duce tax dodging. Coleiro Preca could stand for MEP in 2019 SAVIOUR BALZAN THE President of the Republic has suggested to acquaintances that a political career might yet be in the offing after she steps down from Head of State in 2019. Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, a former La- bour minister, confided in acquaintances that a candidature for the European Parliament might beckon after her presidential term come to an end in April 2019. Coleiro Preca, 59, yesterday did not reply when asked by MaltaToday whether she was interested in taking her political career fur- ther after her term as president ends. She had already stated on TVM's Reporter that she did not exclude continuing in politics after her term is up. But MaltaToday's request yesterday asking her if she was excluding running for MEP for the forthcoming 2019 elections, was not re- plied by the time of going to print. It is widely discussed in political circles that Labour leader Joseph Muscat plans on win- ning a fourth seat for the Labour party in the 2019 elections. In the last elections, the Na- tionalist Party won its third seat of a total six by a whisker, ensuring equilibrium at Euro- pean level. 2019's European and local council elections will be PN leader Adrian Delia's first electoral test and would possibly serve as another ma- jor victory for Muscat, who has won two land- slide victories for his party in 2013 and 2017, and enjoys buoyant trust ratings in successive polls. A possible candidature by Marie Louise Coleiro Preca would easily galvanise party support. Formerly a social policy minister on the fourth district with Qormi as her home- town, Coleiro Preca is a seasoned politician who started her career serving in the Labour executive structures, before being continu- ously elected in parliament sine 1998. After the State, Europe... Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca