Exactly my thoughts. Mizzi says he already has a contingency plan. I guess his plan B is waiting in the pipeline to be implemented.

… you mean Toni Abela and Joseph Cuschieri li tah is-siggu?
Or is it Mario Vella and Michael Falzon ta’ l-iljuni

Or maybe Jose Herrera and Silvio Parnis tal-pilloli

Very well said.

What will happen if Arriva pull out? Let me spell it in large letters: DISASTER. It will be a disaster for the first few months which could easily extend to a year or two or even three.

For the sake of those who see only to the tip of their noses, allow me to define DISASTER.

There will not be enough buses or drivers to run the routes meaning that many people will switch from public to private transport. That means increased traffic congestion, loss of time, waste of fuel, more pollution etc. etc.

And I will not even start to speculate what the impact on tourism will be.

And the panic sets in.

Unemployment’s up, imports and exports down, trade gap widened.

No sign of any capital expenditure, except that ruddy Terminator set in Marsaxlokk. FDI figures missing for months.

He can hit out until he’s blue in the face.

Umberto Eco in an interview in today’s La Stampa.

Good advice for some of our politicians, indeed any one using social networks.

http://www.lastampa.it/2013/10/22/cultura/umberto-eco-aiuto-perdiamo-la-memoria-fmRoggCRoK4tAzpR1o7VRN/pagina.html

Arrogance reigns supreme among those who were out of power for decades and when power was thrust upon them by a combination of bored voters and credulous shifters suffered the humiliation of soiling their new trousers as soon as they put them on.

Exactly Matthew S. You hit the nail on the head. And on reading this on timesofmalta this morning, I just had to smile and think: of course he has a Plan B. Mizzi is probably committed/under pressure to implement it.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/mobile/view/20131022/local/minister-has-plan-b-if-arriva-leave.491416

Excellent analysis in all comments above. I also suspect that foreign investors would be asking serious questions about why Arriva would have pulled out of Malta.

So – are we now going to have our public transport system operated by the Chinese, too?

This is the same economist who found the same information convenient to chastise the bad GonziPN administration with.

Thanks to the EU , he can’t change much in the methodology by which statistics are gathered.

If it’s hot in the kitchen, Scicluna knows what he should do.