Please bear in mind that there was a concurrent situation which affected Malta-Italy relations negatively: the two fishermen
While Malta’s childish and inhumane behaviour was playing out re the tanker, there was another Malta-Italy situation going on, which was eclipsed by it all.
Two poor (I mean that in financial terms) fishermen, one of them aged 29 and the other 52, had their vessels boarded by the Maltese military, who claimed they were in the Maltese fishing zone while they claimed they were not.
They had on them just SEVEN HUNDRED EUROS worth of shrimps and cod, which were sequestered and sold by the Maltese authorities.
The Sicilian fishermen were arrested, prosecuted, fined FORTY THOUSAND EUROS, and kept in prison, with their boats impounded, until they could come up with the money.
Members of their local government came speedily to Malta to deal with the situation and found that they could not.
The money was found to pay the fines and release them and their boats.
But read the report in The Malta Independent and especially the angry remarks of the Sicilian local government official, in respect of having fishing vessels boarded by members of the military.
If they were tempted to use the ‘Joseph Muscat/Manuel Mallia’ approach to sorting out these matters, they would give instructions for their own military patrols to begin boarding and searching, while brandishing weapons, any incoming offshore RHIBs from Malta, laden with loud and mindless Maltese men showing off by burning up a ton of fuel biex imorru lunch Sqallija.
We have reached a pretty pass when even Sicilians are more sophisticated and civilised in their thinking and behaviour than we Maltese are.
The Malta Independent, Sunday, 4 August 2013
Sicilian fishermen fined €20,000 for fishing in Maltese waters released
Shrimps and cod worth less than €700 cost two Sicilian fishermen dearly: they were each fined €20,000 after pleading guilty before Magistrate Audrey Demicoli to fishing in Maltese territorial waters on Thursday at about 8.25am.
They were escorted to Haywharf by the Armed Forces at about 5pm.
Salvatore Penna, 52, admitted that as master of La Madonnina he had fished illegally in Maltese waters, had failed to inform the fisheries protection official of the amount of fish he carried, as well as failing to maintain a monitoring system in violation of the fisheries convention.
Penna, from Ragusa, was found to be carrying €362 worth of shrimps and cod (merluzz).
Salvatore Saporito, 29 of Licata, also pleaded guilty to the same charges and was fined €20,000.
Fisheries representative Francis Caruana testified that Saporito had €318 worth of shrimps and merluzz, the shrimps being of two species, white and red, fetching different prices.
All the fish the Sicilians had caught were sold at the fish market.
Inspector Godwin Scerri prosecuted; Dr Charmaine Cherrett was defence counsel.
Once they have paid the fines, the two would be allowed to return home.
According to news website hercole.it, administrators from Vittoria and Licata had hurriedly come to Malta aboard a private yacht to ascertain the conditions of the two masters and their crews. The administrators have also returned home.
According to si24.it, another news website, the news of the arrest had caused consternation among the people of the southern Sicilian shore. The accused maintained they had been in international waters when they were apprehended.
Assessor Pierro Gurrieri from the Vittoria local government appealed to the Italian foreign office to help in the matter. He urged the Italian and Maltese governments to come to an agreement on fishing issues, “just as they have done in the past on behalf of Maltese fishermen”.
Federcoopesca Sicilia, on its part commented that this was the fourth arrest of a Ragusa boat in just a few days. The arrested men are workers and fathers of families, it commented, not al-Qaeda terrorists or Somali pirates.
“We are against those who infringe the laws of the sea,” it commented, “and are all for the rule of law. But we cannot tolerate the methods used in the recent past by the Maltese military any more, as they are boarding vessels with weapons in hand. We do not even want to think that an accident, costing lives, may happen, given the nervousness and tension of those moments.”
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http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-08-04/news/sicilian-fishermen-fined-20000-for-fishing-in-maltese-waters-released-2244116487/
So we’ve already sunk to the level of a dime-a-dozen tin-pot dictatorship.
Not to mention that when they went to pay the fine on Friday the office concerned was closed even if they arrived 20 minutes before closing time.
This is the responsibility of Manuel Mallia as well.
How is this mega ministry being run? By amateurs and with spitefulness?
it’s being run with the philosophy of “Don’t you know who I am?”
The minister for EU affairs went missing since election, foreign affairs relegated to a blatantly hostile Eurosceptic.
There’s nothing much Mallia can do, except follow to the letter covering his arse.
Don’t see the diplomatic basics of a functioning government.
This administration, like the ones by its MLP predecessors, must learn not to use sledgehammers to crack a nut. Machismo does not leave a positive impression.
It seems that Manwel Mallia’s navy is not really busy rescuing African immigrants from drowning in the Mediterranean sea, after all.
Stamp your feet a little more, Dr. Muscat. How about organising an interview with Christiane Amanpour on CNN next, with some nice coffee?
If you can, move to a different EU country NOW, and apply for citizenship.
Good joke! Of course, people will be at the airport waiting with the citizenship certificate.
I would also say… try and enter Australia or USA illegally and get caught.
Italy has become one pathetic country. They have produced geniuses but now it is a third world country with big social, environmental (especially in the south) and economical problems.
This is just a silly regional brawl with no significance whatsoever on European relations. The BBC reported all this tanker palaver, but the style was very different to the communist Italian papers and TV stations (TG3).
[Daphne – Britain was not involved. Italy is not a third world country.]
Whether Britain was involved or not is irrelevant. We are talking about European news.
[Daphne – News value is dictated by the extent of involvement, Joe. This episode brought to mind something I remembered from my early youth or childhood (could it be? it seems so long ago): asylum seekers held in a redundant tanker off the south of England, and a huge controversy about it.]
Italy, by EU standards ‘is’ a third world country (or almost like Greece and Cyprus) – the EU just doesn’t admit it. Italy relies mostly on its past to maintain its high profile. In reality it is a country where welfare is practically inexistant, corruption is ‘alle stelle’, it is the European mecca of organised crime and racism… With all these ticks, what makes it different to Venezuela (Venezuela’s art is thriving, there are many rich people there too, etc)?
Illegal immigration is a hot topic everywhere. It is a complex matter that has many strands to it. Surely it is not going to be solved by people biting each other’s head off and idiots talking about black dicks.
Those of you who were wondering how we were going to get €35,000 to pay Joey for his own car had nothing to worry about. Problem solved with money to spare.
They were on the way to a supermarket. http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130808/local/maltese-tourists-car-involved-in-fatal-crash-in-sicily.481338
I’ve been praying for many Maltese drivers to drive in Europe and start to learn what driving really is.
Merluzz is hake. Id like to see Cod caught in Maltese waters.
[Daphne – Oh come on, surely you know that there is such a thing as Mediterranean cod.]
Yes, but its a dish not a fish.( Atlantic Cod cooked Mediterrenean style)
What the Italians call merluzzo is Atlantic cod or Arctic Pollock. The Maltese Merluzz is Hake.
[Daphne – Yes, you are correct: European hake, Merluccius merluccius, from the same family as cod and haddock.]
There is a Mediterranean cod, called “Lipp” in Maltese. Not very common but uncommonly good eating.
[Daphne – Do you know the scientific name? Well, no, don’t bother. I’ll look it up in Rio Sammut’s Mediterranean Sea Fishes. It’s an excellent reference book, which gives you all four names you will need for cross-reference: Maltese, English, Italian and scientific, plus a drawing of each fish.]
Blue Ling, Molva Molva.
There, it’s not only decent English that one is exposed to here. Cheers.
More embarrassing moments for Malta: “F’riskju l-ġemellaġġ bejn Vittoria u s-Siġġiewi” – http://www.newsbook.com.mt/artikli/2013/8/8/f-riskju-l-gemellagg-bejn-vittoria-u-s-siggiewi.8940 via Newsbook iOS App
https://www.facebook.com/groups/siggiewinukburin/
Karol Aquilina
Kunsill Lokali Is-Siġġiewi
Stqarrija tal-Kunsill Lokali tas-Siġġiewi
Il-Kunsill Lokali tas-Siġġiewi jirreferi għall-aħbar fil-mezzi tax-xandir lokali u dawk Taljani rigward kumment tas-Sindku ta’ Vittoria, Sqallija Giuseppe Nicosia fis-sens li ma jarax raġuni għalfejn għandu jibqa’ fis-seħħ il-ġemelaġġ bejn il-belt tas-Siġġiewi u dik ta’ Vittoria fi Sqallija.
Is-Sindku ta’ Vittoria għamel dan il-kumment fid-dawl taċ-ċirkostanzi marbuta mal-arrest u s-sejbien ta’ ħtija ta’ żewġ sajjieda Taljani li nqabdu jistadu fl-ibħra territorjali Maltin mill-Forzi Armati Maltin.
Is-Sindku tas-Siġġiewi Dr Karol Aquilina esprima d-diżappunt tiegħu li inċident li seħħ fl-ibħra territorjali Maltin u li jinvolvi ċittadini Taljani, jista’ jwassal għal deċiżjonijiet unilaterali li jolqtu b’mod negattiv ir-rabta ta’ ġemelaġġ li jeżisti bejn is-Siġġiewi u Vittoria. Is-Sindku Karol Aquilina jisħaq li l-imsemmi inċident m’għandu jħassar xejn mir-relazzjonijiet tajbin li jeżistu bejn iż-żewġ ibliet u fisser kif is-Siġġiewi jibqa’ lest li jassisti liċ-ċittadini ta’ Vittoria fi spirtu ta’ ħbiberija li teżisti bejn iż-żewġ komunitajiet u dejjem b’rispett sħiħ tal-liġijiet ta’ pajjiżna.
Is-Sindku Karol Aquilina jappella biex f’dan il-mument jirbaħ fuq kollox is-sens ta’ kooperazzjoni reċiproka u ħbiberija li dejjem eżista bejn Malta u l-Italja kif ukoll bejn l-ibliet tas-Siġġiewi u Vittoria. Matul dan il-perjodu iż-żewġ ibliet qegħdin jgħixu din il-ħbiberija bis-saħħa tas-sħubija tagħhom fi proġett tal-Unjoni Ewropea dwar il-Millennium Development Goals tan-Nazzjonijiet Uniti.
Huwa saħaq ukoll li ser ikun qiegħed jagħmel kuntatt mas-Sindku ta’ Vittoria Giuseppe Nicosia biex iffissirlu l-ħsibijiet tiegħu b’rabta mal-kummenti li huwa għamel fil-mezzi tax-xandir.