Il Sole 24 Ore today: ‘Sale-time in Europe: Italy, Greece, Spain & Co: the family silver goes up for auction’. And the first item is Malta.
Joseph Muscat had an article published in The Sunday Times yesterday about his 10 months in government, in which he accused the Opposition of damaging Malta’s reputation ‘abroad’ in the ongoing passports-for-sale debacle.
He appears to be living in a parallel universe in which journalists working for the world’s leading newspapers and media houses (and even their regional equivalents) are waiting at the other end of the phone for Evil Agents From Malta to tell them what to write and how to write it. And miraculously, they all toe the Maltese Opposition’s line, presumably because they 1. can’t make up their own minds; 2. are fed information rather than looking for it; 3. are paid bribes (sorry, ‘persuaded’) by the Nationalist Party which is both corrupt and rolling in money.
Europa in saldo. Italia, Grecia, Spagna & co: i gioielli di famiglia vanno all’asta Il Sole 24 Ore headlines today across Italy. And please don’t all write in at once to correct my translation of ‘gioelli di famiglia’ to ‘family jewels’. The proper idiomatic translation is ‘family silver’ – ‘family jewels’ means something quite different and makes for the most unfortunate visual imagery.
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http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/notizie/2014-01-05/europa-saldo-passaporto-maltese-vendesi-650-mila-euro-183835.shtml
Quite right about the ‘family jewels,’ although in a way we are emasculating the country with this harebrained scheme.
http://www.giornalettismo.com/archives/1284419/leuropa-svende-i-suoi-gioielli-in-saldo/
The Times has become the official mouthpiece and apologist of this incompetent government. Alfred Sant was right to call it Pravda.
Labour has managed to render Times of Malta toothless and I have this feeling that there must be a sense of disorientation in there.
That newspaper seems to be in trouble.
It is interesting that this article was written after the supposed “revision” of the passports-for-cash scheme. This revision has fooled no one except the Chamber of Commerce and some other minor entity.
[Daphne – I think it was actually two days before. The changes were announced on 23 December.]
In a year’s time we will be luck to have any family jewels left. Ghax sehibna Joseph bil- magoranza tieghu gabna bla baj….
Last week’s Belgian edition of Courrier international features The Independent (of London) article on the Maltese passport sale under the headline, ‘Citoyenneté européenne: Le passeport le plus rentable’
Right about the family silver – but still I would say that certain members of government have put their family jewels up for auction, too.
http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/cultura/2012-09-18/intanto-malta-ride-140717.shtml?uuid=AbShMffG
Compare and contrast – what a difference a general election can make.
http://www.avvenire.it/Economia/Pagine/I%20ricchi%20cinesi%20e%20russi%20%20%20Europei%20a%20Malta.aspx
The article says it’s 650,000 euros per year. Magari.