So if there is a fixed guaranteed reasonable return on the Piano Project SPV, the financial tool will be bought in no time by Maltese investors.

Kien hawn wiehed jghid li jekk jonqos ix-xoghol lest jissospendi id-demokrazija.

Kien hawn wiehed jghid li jekk jonqos ix-xoghol lest ihott is-swar tal-Belt.

It’s a workaround. The government is determined to lower its deficit.

It cannot do that if it spends 80 million euro from public funds.

So it uses a special purpose vehicle, which is nothing but a slightly wonky name for a form of government bond. GIven the way government bonds have been snapped up, it shouldn’t be too difficult to fund the SPV.

The benefit, then (and it’s a very good question) is that by subscribing to the SPV, the people will ensure that Malta stays within the EU’s strict rules on deficit and public debt.

Which means that Malta will be more likely to keep its positive credit rating. Which means that the government will be offered better interest rates. Which means that it will be easier to pay off our debt and balance our budget some time before 2020, which is the final objective of all sensible governments in Europe and the Western World.

I hope you do realise that the €750m figure includes roll over in existing debt stock, with actual ‘yearly’ interest payments being much, much lower.

Still on the James Tyrell thing I see. He must have really annoyed you at some point! Funny I didn’t see her name mentioned here! If you are referring to the other piece you wrote obviously I didn’t comment because it is just the same crap you write all the time with a few little unimportant supporters to back you up plus the bits you add in yourself under different names. I force myself not to comment because I suppose I feel sorry for you. It can’t be easy playing the part of a sad bastard all the time.

[Daphne – Yes, James, I sympathise. It really can’t be easy being a sad bastard all the time. Sad bastards are male.]

By capitalising an asset into an investment, the taxpayer will be paying only for the use, but not for the investment. The investment will be paid for by the bond holders, who are persons willing to take a risk, for which they will get interest income.

It is not a burden on the taxpayer.

There is such a thing as cultural tourism, and that includes visiting a place for its architecture.

The project in question has to be one of the trickiest when it comes to semiotics.

You can rest assured it will provide a new kind of tourist from Italy and France who will want to see Piano’s latest and if I may, most understated iteration yet. They will be the ones who’ll attend events in the theatre, and the entrance fee for the national art collection at the Auberge d’Italie.

Not mentioning local industry’s enriched portfolio. It’s a virtuous cycle.

Call me an optimist, but I don’t think the Euro will be allowed to collapse. It’s in no-one’s interests.

The PIIGS will go bankrupt within hours.

On the other hand, a new strong D-mark will hit hard German exports, on which Germany depends for it economic growth.

So my take is that this cyclical drama of market panic, followed by an EC summit, more market panic and the ECB coming to the rescue will be prolonged as much as possible. Until the banks are ready to take the necessary haircuts and Germany boosts domestic demand, that is.

But then, I’m not an economist.