Oh, so now any old MEP can negotiate on the EU budget for Malta.

Published: February 10, 2013 at 7:42pm
Louis Grech could have negotiated the EU budget for Malta, Joseph Muscat claims. Oh, I think not.

Louis Grech could have negotiated the EU budget for Malta, Joseph Muscat claims. Oh, I think not.

Furious at Lawrence Gonzi’s success in obtaining for Malta twice what was originally offered, Muscat has demonstrated his absolute ignorance of what is required at the negotiating table by telling us that Louis Grech could have done it.

Really?

Don’t make me laugh.

And I speak as somebody who, besides having a fairly rough idea of what’s involved, also knows the people involved, and that includes yes, Louis Grech.

The Sunday Times reports:

In his interview Dr Muscat said it was wrong for the Nationalist Party to try to imply that the Labour Party was not able to negotiate or administer the EU budget for Malta.

He said MEP Louis Grech as European Parliament rapporteur had ‘been there, done that’.

Interesting, isn’t it, that he holds up Louis Grech – and not himself – as the person who could have done it too. Yet it’s the prime minister who has to lead the negotiating team, so we’re interested in whether Muscat can do it, and quite clearly, even he thinks not.

In seeking to belittle the mega achievement of last Friday, Muscat exposes just how uninformed he is. Louis Grech could patently not have done it. Being an MEP is not sufficient qualification or proof of ability, even if one is a rapporteur.

Muscat has already told us that when he is prime minister he will make Louis Grech responsible for making sure Labour’s electoral programme is implemented. Really? That’s his job, not Grech’s.

Aside from the fact that Grech never had the organisational skills or the energy to do something like this even when he was younger, now that he is 65 and seriously ill with cancer – a fact that is being hidden from the electorate in direct contrast to the straightforward manner in which Alfred Sant kept the electorate informed in 2008 – it is clearly out of the question.

But in any case, I’m beginning to get the drift here. Muscat intends to get others to do his work for him, so that he will have somebody else to blame when it all goes belly-up.

So now Malta’s future lies in the hands of a 65-year-old cancer patient, a 39-year-old ex Super One reporter, and a 63-year-old relic from the Golden Years, Prime Minister KMB’s minister of industry, Il-Guy.

Anyone who is lucky enough to have that option should right now be working on a Big Plan B.




104 Comments Comment

  1. canon says:

    Shouldn’t Joseph Muscat start stamping his feet because of Richard Cachia Caruana’s presence during the negotiations?

    [Daphne – He’s hoping people didn’t notice his presence. Because then he’d have to admit to how wrong he was with that vote in parliament, and how wrong he is now when he says that Louis Grech is somehow comparable, which he most definitely is not.]

    • silvio says:

      Seriously, I don’t see why all this fuss because Gonzi managed to get all this money from the E.U.
      Just keep in mind that all our representatives are there to work for our wellbeing, ( that is why they are refered to as servants) and we Pay them for doing exactly that.
      Who would pay any of his employees if they don’t perform ,they would be shown the door.
      They are just doing what we pay them to do.
      Nothing less nothing more.

      • canon says:

        Silvio, it is not a fuss. It is simply a tremendous success for Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.

      • La Redoute says:

        Don’t be ridiculous. A country is not a business, a citizen is not its owner, and a prime minister is not your employee.

      • DUST says:

        Seriously, who would replace a qualified, loyal, experienced, hard-working and effective employee who is also an acknowledged team worker with an inexperienced, lazy, big-headed applicant who furthermore has a history of bad decision-making?

      • Tabatha White says:

        Silvio, It’s mainly your last line that’s a problem for me.

        There are some who are more able than others, more performant than others. They will be better read, more insightful and have better combined skills than others. They give “more” through natural drive, motivation and discipline of skill. As you demonstrate, not everyone functions on this basis, and therefore neither do you expect this of others.

        That is why also, some businessmen are more successful than others, because with the same set of starting ingredients they will turn out a superior result every time. Not because they were hand-held by some government or klikka ta’ ma naf xiex who waved the wand for them.

        This is by no means a modern phenomenon. Even in the Bible we have the Parable of the Talents. According to Matthew the talents (one talent equivalent to approx. 20 years minimum wage) were distributed amongst servants according to ability; and according to Luke, these were distributed equally. In each case there was the one who did nothing, calling his master harsh and undeserving, and the other two who produced results: one more than the other even when the talents distributed were equal and not according to ability.

        Then there is a further instance to quote in terms of ability and performance:

        “12 For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God’s utterances. You have gone back to needing milk, not solid food. 13 For everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced in the message of righteousness, because he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, whose perceptions are trained by practice to discern both good and evil (Hebrews 5:12-14)”

        It is not Money + Time that equal Profit. Not even Money + Labour + Time that equal Profit, but the specific qualities involved in assessment and risk-taking that make for a qualified decision that renders a profit.

        The uniqueness and value of any person is in his /her differentiating factors. The choice for one person over another in this case is vested in proof of the acuteness of their perceptions in a particular direction and vision, and their ability to make good decisions call after call.

        This is what Daphne has been pointing out all along: Joseph
        has been spectacular only in his bad decisions and u-turns – all along the way. Anyone beside him, Anglu re-included, has made a statement about having chosen to decide that that is what they accept about him: that is the track record that they have chosen to value, which I personally do not feel is in the best interests of the country. It is a flawed decision from the outset.

        The Mument on Sunday had a double-page spread devoted to such bad calls of his. He has had to retreat from bad decision after bad decision, time after time, with no positive result. This is not fiction.

        “Nothing less nothing more” is significant of an attitude I find not remotely disturbing. A very different understanding of how to live one’s life.

        Let’s seek to recognise, exploit and celebrate positive examples of brilliant results and good decisions – which are proven consistently and repeatedly, instead of glorifying a track-record of bad calls and decisions and treating the rest of the population on this reduced basis of common ignorance.

        Seeing it would be the first step. Recognition would be the second. Identifying such instances in the larger picture would be the third. Being able to refer to such instances and cross-refer, the fourth.

        RCC can’t be shoved under any carpet, nor should he be.

    • La Redoute says:

      He can’t escape the fact. Gonzi publicly thanked Cachia Caruana for his effort and One News reported that fact.

  2. Nighthawk says:

    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130210/local/anglu.457026

    “Informed sources said the conference will be held in the Falkland Islands. ”

    Now THAT’S a perk…..

    • village says:

      Anglu’s blackmail is working I see. But I am sure Anglu wants much more once Joseph gives in so easily.

      [Daphne – The meeting was on the cards before his resignation and he does not require permission to go. However, if he were a proper gentleman he wouldn’t have gone at all. You don’t fall out with the Labour Party then take advantage of still existing opportunities to represent it without its ‘permission’. I suppose the thought of a trip to the Falklands was too tempting to give up.]

  3. Virgo says:

    Grech’s illness has not been kept secret because of misplaced concerns about privacy. The health of those who lead the country is a matter of public concern.

    Muscat and Grech – both fully aware of the obligation of disclosure – have conspired to keep that information from the electorate because it suits their purposes, though in Grech’s case, one can only wonder what possible purpose that might be.

    • Signs of the times says:

      “though in Grech’s case, one can only wonder what possible purpose that might be.”

      It is clear that the Great Leader cannot claim that Louis Grech lives next to the Marsaxlokk power station.

  4. bystander says:

    If it’s true about Louis Grech then what kind of a man is Muscat to burden him with all the extra stress?

    [Daphne – ‘If it’s true about Louis Grech..’ Of course it’s true. I have known for some time, but it was a private matter until he became deputy party leader and named as deputy prime minister. Now it is a matter of public interest. As for the rest of your remark, Louis Grech is a grown man and a free agent. Nobody burdened him with anything. He has chosen to do it, no doubt because it is worth his while.]

    • Lixu says:

      Although I have different political views from Louis I greatly admire him for deciding to fight his ilness by drowning himself in work. I sincerely wish him the very best.

      • La Redoute says:

        It’s considerably less admirable that he has continued to act as though his state of health is a purely private matter. It’s perfectly legitimate to ask whether his health is up to the task of effectively running government for a five-year term, once his boss will not do the job himself.

  5. maryanne says:

    They are using Louis Grech only till the election. In fact they have already given him a role which is not quantifiable in terms of concrete tasks.

    What exactly do they mean when they say that he will “be tasked with overseeing the implementation of the Labour Party’s electoral manifesto”? Isn’t Muscat going to trust his own ministers? Do they need to be supervised?

    Will he be given the salary of a minister?

    • Signs of the times says:

      He will probably be given a Ministry for the Implementation of the Program.

    • La Redoute says:

      Muscat has already said that Grech will have a ministerial role.

      The responsibility for coordinating policy implementation rests with the prime minister. Muscat’s promise to delegate responsibility to Grech is just more of his usual hogwash.

      A government voting in on the basis of a party’s electoral programme has a mandate to implement that programme. It does not follow that the programme should be implemented. If circumstances so dictate, a responsible government is obliged to revise its position. Pressing ahead against all common sense is disastrous, as Sant’s VAT debacle amply proved.

      • ciccio says:

        I think you are quite right there. Muscat remains responsible for his (or is it Karmenu Vella’s?) program.

        Maybe he is trying to shift the responsibility for failure to deliver the gas power station with two gas tanks within 2 years onto Grech, and this way Muscat will not resign in 2 years when the project is not delivered as already committed in public.

  6. xdcc says:

    Louis Grech’s illness is remarkable news.

    [Daphne – It isn’t news. He has had cancer for quite some time now and has been receiving treatment. It was, of course, entirely a private matter but ceased to be so when he stepped into the spotlight as deputy party leader. In situations like that, there is an obligation to give full status updates. Alfred Sant did it via his medical team. It is deceitful not to apprise people of the situation.]

    First of all, I would like to express my solidarity with him and wish him the best as well as a full recovery.

    [Daphne – Yes, I agree with you on that.]

    Having said that, there are political implications which merit comment.

    If the PL is elected, it is probable that Louis Grech will resign from Cabinet soon after being appointed. Apart from age and ill health, he seems uncomfortable in the political limelight.

    The PL appointed him deputy leader, therefore, not for the contribution he would give to a newly elected government but simply to make itself more electable and also to neutralize the effect of having Simon Busuttil as PN deputy leader.

    [Daphne – A small clarification: the Labour Party could not appoint him deputy leader without his enthusiastic consent. This indicates that he is rather more comfortable with the political limelight than we might think.]

    Joseph Muscat gives the impression that Louis Grech will have a central role in a new Labour government when he knows that this is unlikely to happen.

    In so doing, Joseph Muscat is misleading the electorate.

    • AE says:

      Muscat misleading the electorate. What’s new? It’s all been strategy, strategy, strategy. Whatever it takes to make him PM.

  7. anna caruana says:

    It must be killing you that with a rapporteur a gereatric and as you said a 65 year old seriously ill with cancer the PN will still be sitting on the opposition benches in March.

    This just proves how fed up everyone really is with PN.
    Apparently Simon is just as IRRELEVANTI as Franco even if he has a WICC ta Nazzjonalist..

    [Daphne – Calm down, dear. It really doesn’t do one any good to get so agitated.]

    • Chris says:

      Should it not be even more worrying for Ms Caruana to ponder the fact that after 25 years on the opposition benches, a geriatric 65 year old who is seriously ill is the best that the Labour Party can come up with?

      And I say this as one who is not exactly enamoured of this government.

      • P Shaw says:

        She is of the same age as Louis Grech or a little bit older. Anna, you are way over the mid-life crisis.

        She thinks that by voting for the MLP, her failed life will be somehow corrected: she can re-open all the stores that went bankrupt, her daughter will return from Canada, and maybe her former husband will forgive her.

      • La Redoute says:

        The current Opposition party has not been on the opposition benches for 25 years. The party was elected to government in 1996.

      • TinaB says:

        Oh, is this “that” Anna Caruana, P Shaw?

        Goodness gracious, she sounds hysterical.

        Tghid Gonzi qeridha wkoll, miskina?

    • Zelig says:

      Anna Caruana even more irrelevant are you diehard communists. This is 2013 not 1968 so go get a life.

  8. Makjavel says:

    Exactly – Muscat is shedding his responsibilities as PM.

    He is terrified of what lies in store, and he is lining up his old guard to carry the weight.

    Might as well make Louis Grech Prime Minister while Muscat spends his time in the gym. He has resigned before even starting.

  9. Jonathan says:

    When Louis Grech is tired he can go home and let that other Labour MEP Joseph Cuschieri continue the negotiations.

  10. D Gatt says:

    “It was, of course, entirely a private matter but ceased to be so when he stepped into the spotlight as deputy party leader” …

    I understand that you are the first “journalist” to come out with this piece of information. How do you feel about that? Were you instructed to do so?

    [Daphne – No, of course not. I lead and others follow, darling (and I say that tongue in cheek). The newspapers should have broken the story, but they’re too busy showing us pictures of Joseph Muscat with his Fearless Leader mug. I’ve forgotten who or what broke the news about Sant’s cancer diagnosis in 2007, but at any rate, he instructed his medical team to give a press conference about it once it became public knowledge.]

    • P Shaw says:

      Wasn’t it the MLP itself that broke the story about Alfred Sant?

      After the leaked marriage separation papers that were published in the newspapers (I believe it was TMI), no journalist ever dared to delve into his life.

  11. Matthew says:

    That is indeed remarkable news. I remember The Times saying that Louis Grech is ill but they never went into further detail.

    In Venezuela, the presidency has been in limbo for months because the president elect is seriously ill with a cancer which the electorate knew very little about.

    At one point, the people were even told that Hugo Chavez had completely beat the cancer only to have him rush back to a Cuban hospital soon after being elected. There is even speculation that Cuba is effectively running Venezuela.

    One would have thought that the world learnt an important lesson from this saga. Apparently, the Malta Labour Party did not.

  12. Mel says:

    Yep, my vote for EU membership in 2003 created the opportunity to have these two guys become MEPs. Weren’t these some of the people who were so anti-EU, and would have us believe in the partnership deal or whatever?…..ah, the irony of it all……

  13. Jozef says:

    He did his best to keep Malta away from EU funding.

    That’s 2.5 billion euros.

    Richard Cachia Caruana did a great job.

    Yet Muscat did everything to get rid of him.

    Is there anything Joseph will ever get right?

  14. Antoine Vella says:

    This is all bluff on Joseph Muscat’s part because there will be no comparable negotiations to carry out in the next 7 years.

  15. Matthew says:

    Daphne, have you seen the photographs of Joseph Muscat in shorts, Joseph Muscat exercising and Joseph Muscat using a mug emblazoned with the words Fearless Leader on it?

    Also of interest is the humble, middle class kitchen which his salesman father bought for him. It really shows what a struggle the past 25 years have been for the Muscats and why we sorely need a change.

    Do you think the PN will lose the women’s vote now?

    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130210/elections-news/a-day-in-the-life-of-joseph-muscat.456856

    • maryanne says:

      It seems that not only the Muscats need a change but all of Malta.

      This morning we had, yet again, lawyer Manuel Mallia on TVAM. He delivered a sermon on how hard up families are. The two presenters of the programme just sat there and listened. For heaven’s sake, we have spent well over a million euros this weekend. Donatios to the political parties, thousands celebrating in Gozo, carnival parties and costumes. A nation who can spend this amount on ‘extras’, is really mejjet bil-guh.

      Mallia should have pointed out that, unlike what he said, we are doing well since it is possible to be a pensioner and still bringing up a family with three young children.

    • Tania says:

      I love the way she says “he strides in”.

      Yeah right – ‘waddle in’ is the more accurate description of how he walks.

      That workout helps him think and solve problems? I think he needs to change instructor or physical activity then.

      He has no idea how to solve problems, always coming up with wrong conclusions, decisions and advice.

      What a pompous prat he is, God help us all.

  16. anthony says:

    I think the cancer issue is largely irrelevant.

    Francois Mitterand suffered from metastatic prostate cancer for much of his presidency.

    The G7 meeting in Naples in 1994 was proof, if any was needed, that even very ill political heavyweights can be a force to be reckoned with.

    The sight of the ailing French president struggling up that greatest of staircases, Vanvitelli’s at Caserta, is unforgettable.

    That was Mitterand.

    Now back to Louis Grech.

    Old-timers at Air Malta still refer to him as “pinna bla inka”.

    The least said the better.

    • La Redoute says:

      The cancer issue is NOT irrelevant, and the party’s shameful non-disclosure bears even greater scrutiny.

      If Grech is to hold a ministerial portfolio and take responsibility for implementing government policy, his state of health is critically relevant. Muscat’s motive in appointing Grech, having been fully aware of his illness, is crying out for close scrutiny.

      I’ve had it up to here with the Hello magazine style flattery. If we are to be impressed with Muscat’s forays into the gym, then we deserve an explanation of why a prospective significant government figure’s health has been kept under wraps.

      • anthony says:

        I beg to disagree.

        Mo Mowlam was diagnosed with a brain tumour five months before the general election of 1997.

        Still, she was put into the very hot seat of Northern Ireland Secretary by Tony Blair.

        Cancer and political prowess are not mutually exclusive.

  17. Jozef says:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJtE_ql4duQ&feature=player_embedded

    Power station proposal gone missing, as have the dates for energy tariffs reduction.

  18. Riya says:

    If Louis Grech leads the country like he led Air Malta we will be in serious trouble because as with the airline in his time, the GWU will be leading the country.

    Moreover, by saying this Joseph Muscat is telling us already that he is not capable of running the country himself.

    This is highly alarming.

    • observer says:

      No, dear Riya. It is not alarming at all – at least not for those who have been following il-ginger’s antics for the last twenty years or so. I have done that, and so have many thousands of others.

      What is highly alarming is that there are so many other thousands who have either not been doing that or, even though they have, have forgotten all about them.

      I can still picture in my mind a ‘challenge’ thrown by il-ginger to Dr Fenech Adami, at either a press conference or a pre-election presentation in 1992, on one aspect of economics. Dr Fenech Adami politely answered that, should the then labour reporter wish to discuss the matter at length, he himself was ready to do so at the appropriate time and the appropriate forum.

      So much for bloated conceit!

  19. Ghoxrin Punt says:

    I have a question for Muscat:

    Given that you seem to be delegating the Prime Ministerial role to all and sundry, are you sure you want to be Prime Minister?

    • La Redoute says:

      Of course he wants to be prime minister. He just doesn’t want to do any actual work.

      It’s called power without responsibility.

    • observer says:

      Most certainly yes – and at all costs the youngest one at that, in imitation of the great William Pitt. Some hope, however!

    • Tabatha White says:

      Good question. I think that the 2nd Republic would give the President more powers, pomp and ceremony, and then Joseph, Michelle, Etoile and Soleil will reappear as Presidential family with the Marion Mizzi brigade (After all, his and AST’s hero Gaddafi had female bodyguard outriders?) to lead and cheer whilst Jason, Manwel the stasher etc tackle the rest of the ‘business’. Joseph will then plan for the dominance of Red China and outer space. Ooh we’re in for some international scorn and ridicule IF this happens. I’m imagining some worse name than Belgrade’s Silicon Valley applied to the whole of Malta, and Gozo. Tal-Biki that he’s even given the time of day.

  20. Riya says:

    To compare Richard Cachia Caruana with Louis Grech your mentality and intelligence have to be really poor.

    • Tabatha White says:

      Next they’ll be turning themselves into the Nation’s paragon of ethics. With their usual wrath and violence of changed form they again “dealt with” the comparative stumbling block: Mifsud Bonnici’s, and relatives. What’s different to Mintoff’s days there? The two pillars attacked in one calculated swoop: one of intelligence and the other of ethics.

      I would recommend Carm’s article in yesterday’s “Mument.” What drew my attention in particular was the reference under point 5 to: “f’din il-konfuzjoni ta’ informazjoni..”.

      Yes, I believe Super Ones distortions can no longer just be seen as a different perspective. When information is intentionally released in an incomplete way, or one that misinterprets the context of known reality, or supplemented or withheld to hold sway and manipulate those listeners who lack the skills of analysis, I think we should be calling it something else: the skilled planting of seamless chaos. Psychological manipulation.

      Notice how Anglu’s latest comment refers to “MLP”. Not Joseph & Co., definitely not Labour Party/ PL. For all his wrongs I would say Anglu (and John) has a notion of his party’s identity. Joseph & Co.: no identity, no ethics, no vision, no backbone.

    • observer says:

      Who told you that il-ginger’s is not?

  21. just me says:

    The original amount offered was 480 million euro. Dr. Gonzi managed to get 1,128 million, which is 2.35 times the original amount.

    In the previous 7 years, we were given 850 million. So Dr. Gonzi managed to get 278 million more. And he succeeded in doing this when the EU reduced the total funds given to the countries.

    It would have been a good achievement had Dr. Gonzi had managed to get the same amount as last time. But he got more…. much more. And his is even more impressive.

    Thank you so much, Dr. Gonzi.

  22. Futur Imcajpar says:

    What a bunch of incompetent fools, the lot of them.

    With any luck, the Nationalists will be back in power by the time the next budget comes around, but by that time we would have lost face with just about every other country in the EU – especially after Muscat’s presidency.

  23. Daniel says:

    If you’re gonna tell people Louis Grech has cancer, you should give them more detail. It is very deceitful for you to affirm he is “seriously ill” when you clearly don’t know the specifics. Nowadays many types of cancer are treatable, especially if they are treated at an early stage. If that’s the case with Louis Grech, he will be more than capable to fulfill his duties as Deputy Prime Minister.

    The electorate deserves to be informed if he was given a bad prognosis, which does not seem to be the case. Honestly Daphne this is irresponsible on your part. You are taking advantage of a widespread carcinophobia and the perceived incurability of cancer. A perception which nowadays we can say is wrong, fortunately. I just hope that your none of your readers get the bright idea of spreading morbid rumours about Mr Grech’s health.

    [Daphne – I do know the specifics, but it is not up to me to give them out. It is up to the Labour Party and to Louis Grech. The prognosis has absolutely nothing to do with it. Alfred Sant’s prognosis wasn’t bad when he was diagnosed with cancer in 2007, but he still instructed his medical team to give a press conference about it. For once, he did things the right way. THIS is the information which the public has the right to know – not some of the rubbish which the Labour Party reports on Super One. Joseph Muscat has said that he is going to put Louis Grech in charge of making sure that the electoral programme is implemented – doing his job as PM, in other words. Therefore a status report on his state of health and his fitness to do it is of paramount importance. This is not a private matter any longer. And you have the example of Alfred Sant to go on, if you won’t take it from me.]

    • P Shaw says:

      In the US election, the presidential and vice-presidential candidates publish their health records for a number of years (usually 2 – 3 years).

    • vanni says:

      @ Daniel

      You wrote:
      “You are taking advantage of a widespread carcinophobia and the perceived incurability of cancer. ”

      If, according to your logic, when Daphne exposes a well hidden secret, she is taking advantage, what is Joseph Muscat doing when he lies about the effects of the power station?

    • Daniel says:

      Sant was diagnosed just before an electoral campaign. Big difference right there. You said Louis Grech was diagnosed quite a while ago. Unless there have been new developments regarding his condition I don’t think he is obliged to divulge his whole medical history.

      [Daphne – Rubbish.]

      • Gahan says:

        Daniel, as a voter you have a right to know everything about your candidates.

        Just look at the fifth district where Franco was elected; his supporters were PN and he misrepresented them.

        Look at JPO – we never new he was a land speculator. Everyone thought he was a dentist.

        If a candidate has a serious illness he should make it public and then you can vote on that fact with your eyes wide open.

        Airline pilots are medically tested so that they don’t put your life in danger and similarly candidates should tell us about their problems and conflicts of interest.

        The main concern of people at the top who are terminally ill is their survival not your bread and butter issues.

      • Gahan says:

        Daniel, ghaliex tahseb Muscat uriena kemm hu relaxed jara l-cartoons u ma jarax ahbarijiet u jmur il-gym biex jibqa fit?

        Nghidlek jien: “Ghax xi hadd bhali jikteb li ghandu gangala u tpahpih ma’ gismu kollu, li jfisser XAHAM u nuqqas t’ezercizzju, li jfisser periklu ghas-sahha ghal-prattikament prim ministru.”

  24. matt says:

    Look at this picture- Here we have a Prime Minister who worked diligently throughout the last five years to improve our standard of living and his last days in this legislature he skillfully secured a whopping 1.3 billion euros for our island. A record sum. If the public opinion polls are to believed, in a few days, an anti EU Opposition Leader will be spending this money foolishly on a power station and take all the glory.

    Wise up people.

    • Gahan says:

      Hobz il-biezel kielu l-ghazzien!

    • observer says:

      If I understood Dr Gonzi correctly, he has said that the EU funding will not apply to the dream power station at all.

      As far as I am aware, projects requiring funds from the EU will have to be examined and evaluated for their necessity (and utility, I presume) by the source issuing the funds well before their commencement.

      Whether, therefore, the 600 million odd will be obtained from the EU itself has still to be seen.

      This, I hope, should serve to wise people up!

      • Angus Black says:

        Dr Gonzi is technically correct since Joseph’s fantasy seems to exclude EU funding since he has a ‘mystery investor’ who will fork out the millions,
        That is why the project seems to be already dead in the water since Joseph suddenly found out that reinforcing the land upon which he has figured he will place the two storage tanks would cost at least 40 million, plus Konrad mislead him by saying, bringing the gas would be no problem because there are 400 ships able to do that. This number was shot to hell and he soon found out that only 4 such vessels exist and are contracted elsewhere. There go another 80 million to build one but a minimum of two are required. Then there is the question of a regasification plant required to convert the liquid gas to vapour…
        So Joseph’s miscalculation comes to between 200 and 250 million. Not bad considering he had calculated the cost of the PS to be between 350 and 400 million and the cost now has risen to over 600 million!

    • Vanni says:

      What glory. may I ask ? If the decision is taken to build that power station, Malta “will be in deep s.”

  25. Gahan says:

    http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/elections2013/Axed-deputy-leader-to-represent-Labour-in-parliamentary-delegation-to-foreign-conference-20130210

    Kemm se jgibulna biljuni dawn Anglu u Jesmond?

    Meta tara kif Joseph jittratta lil bahbuh Anglu tinduna kemm hawn nies kapaci jdellkuk u jimshuk.

    Jien ghandi dubju jekk hux veru li Joseph stieden lil Anglu…jista’ xi hadd isaqsi lil Anglu jekk kellux il-biljetti diga mahrugin mil-organizzaturi tal-konferenza? Kif imorru l-affarijiet?

    • Gahan says:

      Joseph :“I want to convey a heartfelt greeting to my friend Anġlu Farrugia, who I know is going through a difficult patch and thank him from the heart for having accepted to represent Labour in a parliamentary delegation abroad. Labour’s door is always open. This movement is a united team… We are all one.”

      Anglu:”I never had any problems with the Labour Party. My problem was with Joseph Muscat”

      http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130211/local/Ex-deputy-accepts-PL-trip-to-the-Falklands.457095

      Please note that Muscat avoided saying that he invited Anglu.I suspect that Anglu was personally invited as an MP by the conference to make his presentation.

      He went to the Falklands no matter what Muscat and his Labour ex-colleagues said,he was defiant against josephmuscat.com.

      On the Labour Party’s side they could do nothing in front of this situation, because if Joseph refused , he would prove that the door was not really open.

      With that statement Joseph tried to turn a defeat into Victory.

      If Anglu did not go, which Labour MP(who is not a candidate) would have gone to the Falklands to save the Labour Party from embarrassment?

      The limited choice was between Dr Adrian Vassallo and Dr Alfred Sant.

      From now on I will start weighing each statement Joseph says, he never makes spontanious statements.
      All that he says is written meticulously beforhand on a teleprompter and rehearsed ad nauseam.

      It’s becoming more than obvious that rote learning was his way to get his qualifications.

  26. Minix lejborist says:

    So we have been told that Anglu Farrugia is still relevant to the party and Malta, right?
    Is it true there are plans to make him the next president of Malta when shortie Georgie’s time runs out?

  27. Tabby says:

    Joseph Muscat does not seem to understand that credibility plays a crucial role in all this – and, Lawrence Gonzi, has loads to offer…..

  28. il-Ginger says:

    I beg to differ Daphne. If he is incapable of doing the job, it is not, because he has cancer.

    [Daphne – He is incapable of doing the job, and the situation is made worse by his illness. End of story. Had he been diagnosed while in situ, it would be one story. But to take on the deputy leadership when you are battling cancer already is another story altogether. Unfortunately, too many people have an overblown sense of their own abilities.]

  29. verita says:

    Lino Spiteri’s article in The Times today insults the Prime Minister instead of thanking him and his team for a job well done. Just typical.

    • Matthew says:

      Lino Spiteri spent years pretending to be non-partisan and above it all. Now that an election is around the corner he’s thrown all that out of the window and is bending over backwards trying to help Joseph..

      He doesn’t give us a reason why we should listen to him though. His credentials are abysmal.

      When Mintoff and KMB governments used violence against the people and broke human rights, he didn’t complain.

      When Mintoff and KMB governments followed quasi communist economies, he thought it was a good idea.

      Years later, he supported his leader Sant when his leader was promising to remove vAT, a move which brought Malta’s economy to its knees.

      Lino Spiteri has never in his life taken a decent political or economic decision. Why should we listen to him now?

      He’s nothing but a fake, a fraud and a failure.

  30. the champ says:

    Daphne you are a woman with a big ballsssssss

  31. old-timer says:

    Envy and sour grapes were always two dominant factors in the PL. This morning we have Lino Spiteri on the backpage of The Times to sustain this.

  32. Tania says:

    Watching an interview of Silvio Berlusconi on Rai 1 right now. Now that’s the way to question a political leader and take him to task. Journalists in Malta need to take note.

  33. joe micallef says:

    Muscat has been shedding responsibility since day one, with his asinine collectivism marketed as the “movement”

  34. xdcc says:

    Here are interesting comments from timesofmalta.com under the Gozo Lidl story.

    For Astrid Vella, a supermarket in Gozo will have an impact but a new power station and gigantic gas tanks at Delimara will not.
    …………..
    Astrid Vella: Yesterday, 22:58
    The Assessment confirms that the setting up of Lidl in Gozo will divert €1.81million from grocery stores in Rabat &€3.17 million from village grocery store.Is that what you call no impact?

    Mario Mercieca: Today, 09:29
    Ara mela fis supermarkets tifhem int?..fil powerstations ma tifhimx,

    C Mercieca: Today, 09:40
    Ooooh we are deeply touched by your concern Astrid. You care so much for Gozitans, hux? So why didnt you give a care in this world when the other huge supermarkets in Gozo opened??? Is Lidl the ONLY supermarket which will have an impact on other stores?
    ………………..

    • Gahan says:

      I know for sure that our self appointed watchdogs for the environment, Astrid Vella/FAA and Marco Cremona/Friends of the Earth WERE totally and consistently against artificial islands/land reclamation.

      Their silence is deafening.

  35. Antoine Vella says:

    Instead of cringing with embarrassment at what was probably given to him as a joke, he proudly places his mug in the foreground.

    This is too good a chance to miss – josephmuscatdotcom is God’s gift to lampooners.

    http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/282680_408297089260900_1361789017_n.jpg

  36. carlos says:

    Daphne what about Dr. E.F. Adami’s illness and his going abroad for operation and treatment.

    [Daphne – There was a press conference and regular press briefings. My point isn’t the illness, but the fact that the public has the right to know and the public is not being told.]

    • Neil Dent says:

      What about it? The two examples are enormously different. Typical thinking: Eeehh daw ma kellhomx il-Fenech Adami wkoll? Allura Grech biss jaraw dawk, ghax minn taghna?

      It feels like that card game, top trumps – it’s all about ‘trumping’ the other lot, with this ‘ours is better that yours’ mentality.

  37. C Falzon says:

    I suppose they could always send Alex Sceberras Trigona. I’m sure his experience in striking good deals with Kim Il Sung and the like would be invaluable.

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      As are his excellent relations with staff from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of the Prime Minister. Labour can really hit the ground running.

    • ciccio says:

      I thought I saw Alex Sceberras Trigona on those new Malta Labour Party billboards saying “Inwasslu l-medicini lill-anzjani f’darhom.”

      They should have added a further promise on that billboard: “U jekk jaqghulkom il-medicini fit-toilet, nigu nigbruhomlkom.”

      Incidentally, the Labour billboard does not say if the delivery is free of charge or against a payment.
      Is this promise another direct-order business opportunity for some Labour-friendly deliveries company?

      • H.P. Baxxter says:

        That’s right. Let’s have a good old larf about Sceberras Trigona. This is exactly why Labour wins elections.

      • Antoine Vella says:

        Baxxter, Labour doesn’t win elections. This will be the second they’ve won out of the last seven, and that’s not counting 1981.

      • H.P. Baxxter says:

        Antoine Vella, Labour does win elections, and they’ll win this one.

        The European Union was just a blip in a long history of congenital atavistic Socialism.

        Viva Malta, what.

  38. chully says:

    Is Labour about to dismantle POYC? This would be a direct consequence of his promise to deliver medicines to the home of all eligible patients.

  39. Aunt Hetty says:

    What a shrewish harpy!

    Will she stop shrieking if she receives 200 euro worth of free shopping from Lidl?

  40. Kev says:

    [Daphne – Kevin, I’ve deleted your comment. I don’t want to get you into trouble. Your wife Sharon Ellul Bonici has been saying on Facebook that only a few idiots and depressed people comment on that witch’s blog. Which one of those are you?]

  41. sasha says:

    I would have loved to see our current permanent representative to the EU negotiate the deal with the PL incompetents by her side. Now that would have been a sight.

  42. old-timer says:

    I hear somewhere that the delivery (house-to house) of medicines will be carried out by the elderly people of the locality – – I cannot understand how these people do not realize that they are the laughing stock of Malta.

  43. Lomax says:

    Sa l-papa irrizenja ghax ma felahx jara lil Joseph Muscat isir Prim Ministru.

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