You have to read this story in The Malta Independent: no EU funding for the hotel industry this year (and that’s because Minister Louis Grech and his PS, 27-year-old Ian Borg, are WAY out of their depth)
The Malta Independent reports today that this year there will be no EU funds for the hotel industry because the government “underestimated” the amount of time it takes to have funding programmes researched, written, checked and approved.
This a direct consequence of the prime minister having appointed, as parliamentary secretary responsible for EU funds, a 27-year-old (Ian Borg) who was still a law student at the time, in his final year, and whose sole political experience had been as a village mayor (Had-Dingli).
The cabinet minister responsible for parliamentary secretary Ian Borg is Louis Grech, whose formal title is Minister for European Affairs and Implementation of the Electoral Manifesto. The buck stops with him. Grech, though amusing in conversation and friendly enough, was never the most energetic or motivated individual and his habitual lassitude was inevitably going to be made worse by his unfortunate illness.
So here we have an elderly man, not particularly energetic to begin with and now also battling the sort of illness that must perforce make one cut down on one’s workload and responsibilities, aided by a 27-year-old former village mayor not even out of law school when he was given this responsibility, in charge of EU funds for Malta.
The result is chaos. Malta’s hotels have been left without EU funding for their projects, and this when the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, whose president at the time, Tony Zahra, practically lived in Labour’s igloo during the election campaign, practically instructed us to vote Labour.
And instead of issuing a statement criticising the government for right royally messing up and leaving them without EU funds for the year, the MHRA issues one telling us to “move on” and that the sale of citizenship will be a good thing for Malta what with all that money coming in.
Can you believe it? They say nothing about the disastrous loss of regular EU funding thanks to the government’s mess, and instead issue a lackey press release saying how good it is that we are going to get money from selling passports (I paraphrase).
Meanwhile, please read the story in The Malta Independent, from which I quote below:
This year is a lost year for EU funding for the hotel industry, with Westin Dragonara’s director of finance, Malcolm Jones, saying that the Maltese economy is suffering and projects are on hold because the government has “underestimated” the time needed for funding programmes to get the green light from the EU.
“There are no funds. There is nothing coming out in 2014 and everywhere is at a stall. They have to go fast. They have not yet structured the projects for which Malta has to apply for funding with the EU. Once you [the government] apply it takes at least six to eight months to get a reply from the EU,” Mr Jones said.
Mr Jones explains that the return on investment for environmentally friendly projects is very long, therefore if no EU funds are available in 2014 the Westin Dragonara will put the brakes on its plans.
“Projects are on hold, we are now looking towards the next programming period, there are certain projects lined up which could make us more environmentally friendly but we are not going to do them.
“We have a whole year down the drain, over the last four years there were always calls coming out, things were always moving within the hotel industry, but in 2014, zilch, nothing. We are now looking towards 2015 and 2016,” Mr Jones said.
He points out that in today’s world nobody can afford to be at a standstill. Plans for a project have already been given the go-ahead by the Westin Dragonara’s board, and they are just waiting to “kickoff and invest” once EU funds are available.
(…)
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https://www.gov.mt/en/Government/Government%20of%20Malta/Ministries%20and%20Entities/Pages/MEAIM-Contacts.aspx
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2013/06/and-then-when-i-said-that-louis-grech-is-too-old-too-ill-and-too-lazy-to-cope-people-sniped-at-me-but-i-was-right/
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2013/03/it-gets-worse-the-27-year-old-ex-mayor-of-dingli-is-now-responsible-for-the-eu-presidency-and-eu-funds/
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-02-18/news/hotel-industry-projects-stalled-as-2014-is-going-down-the-drain-for-eu-funds-3988586496/
Dr. Ian Borg tal-Gabillott (family name) graduated as a lawyer in November 2012, just in time before the electoral campaign. He was 26 at the time.
Makes you think: Why is it that lawyers normally graduate at 24 years but he graduated 2 years later?
What was he doing in those 2 years, waiting to grow into the tallest Mayor?
Perhaps he was getting life experience, something most Maltese lack.
I don’t share your argument where you ask what he did in those years, although I know nothing of his particular case. I would assume there were other reasons for him graduating later as, being Maltese, I doubt he purposefully sought life experience.
[Daphne – In fact he was not. He was in Had-Dingli, which is nice, but there is not much on offer in terms of life experience. The reason most people leave the law course a few years later than standard is generally failure and repetition, with possibly also a delay in actually getting into the course after a struggle to obtain the mandatory entry requirements, as with MEP candidate and ex Super One reporter Charlon Gouder, whose final examinations coincide this spring with the EP elections. That should go marvellously well for somebody so….not bright. Ian Borg may have been getting life experience, but matters indicate otherwise.]
I have just taken exception to your comment about graduating after the age of 24. I am still studying, and I’m no spring chicken. In fact, a courageous government would make a study-year abroad for those studying at university compulsory. The Institute of Tourism Studies has done this for aeons and the industry, and society in general, have benefitted greatly.
Made a couple of corrections to my name, apologies for the wrong spellings before.
@ Anon
I did not really make arguments or comments, I just asked a couple of questions.
Do you really see this guy “talking about the future”?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120902/interview/-Let-s-talk-about-the-future-.435227
His political argumentation consists only of criticising GonziPN, and when this fuel runs out, he is going to be left without much to say or do in politics.
And I do not see any life experience in his attitude to politics.
Yes, I assumed he had no life experience, or indeed international experience for that matter. I was just pulling you up on the mature age student issue even though I know you weren’t necessarily having a go at us all.
[Daphne – I would hardly do that. I first went to university at 29.]
Don’t bother to ask about accountability.
Hudu go fikhom, MHRA.
“The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) extended its congratulations to the PL and Dr Joseph Muscat for the success achieved in the General Elections.
MHRA President Tony Zahra stated that “Prime Minister Dr Joseph Muscat did an excellent job in steering his Party to success and accordingly augurs that together with his new Cabinet he will likewise manage to continue building on the success achieved to-date in the tourism industry.”
The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) extended its congratulations to the PL and Dr Joseph Muscat for the success achieved in the General Elections.
MHRA President Tony Zahra stated that “Prime Minister Dr Joseph Muscat did an excellent job in steering his Party to success and accordingly augurs that together with his new Cabinet he will likewise manage to continue building on the success achieved to-date in the tourism industry.”
The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) extended its congratulations to the PL and Dr Joseph Muscat for the success achieved in the General Elections.
MHRA President Tony Zahra stated that “Prime Minister Dr Joseph Muscat did an excellent job in steering his Party to success and accordingly augurs that together with his new Cabinet he will likewise manage to continue building on the success achieved to-date in the tourism industry.”
http://www.di-ve.com/news/mhra-hopes-pl-will-continue-tourism-success
L-aqwa li skond Ian Borg, “il-prijoritajiet iffukati.”
http://www.independent.com.mt/uploads/media/NewspaperArticleImage-MediaItem/Normal/3761242115-Ian-Borg-Simplifying-the-process-of-implementation-of-EU-fu.jpg
Meanwhile the hotel industry sees a year going down the drain.
Ian Borg, like his boss Louis Grech, is lazy and bored with his job. He is good at talking, like his boss, but hopeless at carrying out real work and leadership – like his boss.
Do you remember how when he was elected he gave press conferences and interviews claiming EU funds were in jeopardy but then claimed he had saved the money? He has done sweet FA and the results are right there.
I can barely wait to see these two organise the hoo-ha for Malta’s EU presidency. Disaster beckons.
They have no clue.
He kept saying that there were Eur 200 million in jeopardy, and that thanks to his hard work (known in Labour circles as “hidma sfiqa”), those funds have been saved.
So I ask: what public projects worth Eur 200 million does he have to show for his claim?
Eur 200 million is not a small figure – one can build 3 Renzo Piano parliament projects.
What projects exactly does Dr. Borg have to show for the Eur 200 million which he claims to have “saved”?
That was inevitable. They transferred highly skilled people from EU funding and project administration within the various managing authorities to other roles including ticking boxes, quasi-clerical and accounting work (which is not their area).
‘Basta nehislu minn Nazzjonalisti’ – and see what happens?
It serves the country and in this case, the MHRA, right for electing such a tepid bunch of absolute crass, corrupt and incompetent amateurs.
And the transfers and non-renewal of contracts are still going on. PPCD are losing their best staff on a daily basis.
Apart from the non-renewal of contracts, there’s currently a job rotation system (recently established) in force that means that once a person in the public service gets promoted, s/he is immediately sent off to another department.
So the most experienced and senior staff members are being whisked off without a proper hand-over, in most cases to a department where they still have to start from scratch in terms of necessary knowledge; practically an internal brain drain.
Crucially, the government thinks that it can use EU funds only as a way of implementing its electoral manifesto. It has created a new IT system called (MIS) to help it manage its electoral promises and is giving priority to the implementation of EU projects.
1. The Maltese electoral cycle and the EU budget cycle are different (one is 5, and the other is 7 years, starting and ending in different dates). If their aim is to use EU funding for this electoral-driven funding, many funds will be lost post-2017 as there will be no plan for them. Addio il-‘mitejn miljun’ ta’ Ian Borg.
2. They are going to create a huge system which will be confusing and too large to manage.
3. The skills/people needed to implement EU and ‘tal-maifest’ so-called ‘deliverables’ are different, and so are the processes.
4. The processes needed to approve manage-during-implementation and manage-when-completed EU project vs a Malta one are completely different too. Look what’s going to happen with the gas power station. To satisfy the self-imposed 2-year timeframe it is not only funding for the gas pipeline which will be lost, but also that for the interconnector as it will be made redundant and hence Malta may have to return the money already taken and used in the work already done.
5. Given the calibre of the ‘persons of trust’ the government has chosen, who only care about the manifesto and think that EU funds are just a (excuse my French) ‘zejza biex terda’ minnha’, the non-renewals and transfers of competent people – well it’s prone to be a disaster.
6. Most importantly, the EU’s thematic objectives and their degree of importance (hence how much money can be used in a project, and the amount of co-financing which may be obtained) is different from that in the electoral manifesto
7. Ah yes, last but not least, the so called ‘MIS’ tool is just a copy/paste of the manifest elettorali ta’ Malta Taghna Lkoll (hence rigidly copied and won’t be altered even when difficulties are encountered ‘ghax hekk weghdna’). Work is distributed to people in ‘positions of trust’, for implementation, in the same way UN food aid is given out in war-torn zones. Again, imagine the calibre of thought behind this system. Consequently, you can imagine the difference between Malta’s partnership agreement which was heavily negotiated upon by the Gonzi administration for the 2014-2020 programming period and this ‘ktieb tal-weghdi’.
I rest my case.
Look at the heading of Le Point this week. It so perfectly applies to Joseph Muscat’s people:
“Les sous-doués au pouvoir.”
Sur-doué= endowed with above-average intelligence
Sous-doué= its opposite: cursed with below-average intelligence.
And the sub-heading, which says: “Ils gâchent même les bonnes idées.” (They even ruin good ideas).
http://www.je-suis-stupide-j-ai-vote-hollande.fr/blog/les-sous-doues-au-pouvoir/
The same happens all the time in chaotically-run Italy:
http://www.impiantifotovoltaici-sardegna.com/2012/02/litalia-perde-le-opportunita-dei-fondi.html
As at the end of Geometry theorems : QED “Quod erat demonstrandum” or “which was to be proved”. So Malta is also “chaotically-run”.
All these past years we had got used to the idea that politically we were much better off than Italy.
Now we have to find some consolation in the fact that Italy is almost as bad as we are.
Question: How much does Maltese Citizenship cost?
Answer: Roughly the same price as 80 old, not fit for function bendy buses.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140218/local/bendy-buses-to-be-shipped-to-sudan.507334
which were sold at a ridiculous price of Eur7,500 each.
To a third world country called Sudan.
And zilch, nada on Times of Malta.
Malcolm Jones was once finance director at Tony Zahra’s Alpine Holdings.
Because they thought those funds came out of nowhere, of course. What do you expect when you dismantle the civil service and put a disgruntled shop steward at its head?
It’s none of the government’s fault.
It’s that roadmap that went up in flames at Castille.
Undoubtedly GonziPN were behind that fire.
While on the subject of fires, I was wondering.
Maybe, if Vella goes to Kiev tonight and sees nothing because of his overgrown eyebrows.
Maybe, he will be able to smell something.
Incompetents, the whole bloody lot of them.
Now where is Tony Zahra hiding?
Who said he is hiding?
He is just cleaning his tongue.
That will take quite some time.
Tra il dire ed il fare…
That is what happens when Castille is transformed into a chicken coop (gallinar) full of headless chickens , capons and strutting cocks.
I don’t know where to post this but wanted to let you know that I’ve just been invited to an event on Facebook: the revival of “Gensna” at the MFCC on March 22.
Go. And unleash hell.
It is not going to be partisan, they said.
‘Se tkun miftuha ghal-Malta kollha.’ Whatever that means.
Yet people receive invitations not tickets.
The Labour version of history is partisan by definition.
Eur 48m budget for V-18….. and then they made a fuss about the City Gate project!
Which, by the way, they finally have had to admit will not affect Valletta’s status as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
130 million
This never happened when you had the best people appointed as permanent secretaries in the respective ministries, people who could handle the pressure and do the work. Not to mention the man in Brussels at the time.
This government is all about marketing. It does not have any idea on how to adhere to the rules for the implementation of EU funds.
The mechanisms have been in place in Malta since 2002 and the two Nationalist governments since that year succeeded in disbursing EU funds into the economy of Malta. It is not enough to obtain the funds budget through negotiation (and it wasn’t this government which negotiated for the Eur1.2 billion which it has begun to lose systematically). You also need to know how to go about getting approval for projects and administering the funds.
The government has to plan for allocation of the funds in a fair and transparent manner with considerable checks and balances. This is where it fails and has chosen instead to concentrate on bringing in money through selling Maltese citizenship, which carries no mandatory requirements on external checks and balances.
It is the science of muddling through with no planning, which will lead us to nowhere and instill in our society the philosophy that instant gain and gratification is the order of the day.
The rule of law and checks and balances are the principles of good governance. Unfortunately neither the government nor society upholds these principles. The EU mechanisms are not always tailored made for all member states, but the EU is based on these principles.
Further proof of incompetence and being stuck in Opposition-mode:
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-02-18/news/decision-to-lay-off-arrow-pharm-workers-taken-a-long-time-ago-cardona-3994353664/
It’s always the previous administration’s fault, isn’t it?
Joseph Muscat on the subject of Louis Grech and EU funding:
Been there, done that.
What about efficiency and accountability so often mentioned by Muscat before the last election?
Shouldn’t heads be rolling?
sorry, yank here.
why does your tourism industry need handouts from europe? you have an island in the sun.