Haven’t you noticed what’s wrong with this story?
The newspapers report that Konrad Mizzi will give a statement to parliament on the situation with the new power station on Wednesday when he returns from China.
He is in China, the newspapers tell us, having in turn been told that by the government, for meetings with Shanghai Electric. Oh, is he just.
The fact that his wife and children live there is entirely coincidental, I suppose.
The justification for his China visit only makes Konrad Mizzi, and the rest of the Maltese government with him, look even more desperate and stupid in this situation.
Shanghai Electric is a corporation. Konrad Mizzi’s outfit is the government of an EU member state. It is not senior members of government who visit corporations for meetings, flying halfway across the world to do so, but the other way round. Shanghai Electric should be flying to Malta for meetings with Konrad Mizzi.
But perhaps they don’t have any wives and children here, and they’re not as desperate and idiotic as he is.
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The PN are being served multiple servings on multiple silver platters. Easy pickings. And in return … nada.
Even Taghna Lkollers are incredulous at this behaviour. It is either misplaced gallantry or failure to understand how these things are done. Marketing campaigns entail a constant bombardment of information. Politics should not be treated differently.
I just hope the PN isn’t somehow being bribed.
I completely agree. I’m afraid the leadership is too much a gentleman – there’s no place for gentlemen at this point. This is where Austin Gatt would be needed.
Isn’t that precisely why Austin Gatt was hounded?
Labour’s tactics in opposition was to target and destroy individuals who were regarded as election winners such as Richard Cachia Caruana, Austin Gatt, Joe Saliba and used unstable prats from their own party the same way Al Qaeda used American planes to destroy the World Trade Centre.
Austin Gatt should have been the successor to Gonzi, the PN didn’t follow the mantra that in this island’s politcal trenches you need people with balls.
I feel that as two of us (thanks to Daphne) have cottoned on to the incredible mess the country is in thanks to those who were bought out by the PL at the last election, then we should hope that there are others who can hear the euro drop when they see such blatantly stupid behaviour from our ministers an government!
Konrad Mizzi spoke to the papers from Beijing, which is where Malta’s overpaid and totally unnecessary trade envoy, Sai Mizzi, lives, with Konrad Mizzi’s children.
Shanghai Electric is based in Shanghai, which is where most of its business is – there, and in Jaingsu proving, and in Marsaxlokk, literally half a world away.
Shanghai Electric is two hours away from Beijing by air, about the same distance between Malta and Milan. When business people in Milan wish to meet government representatives in Rome, they go to Rome.
Shanghai Electric is a corporation but it is owned by the People’s Republic of China.
If Konrad Mizzi was on business in Beijing, then it was government-to-government business, and we should know what that is.
We should also be told how often he flies to China to visit his family and at what expense to the tax payer. Ministers don’t take holiday leave, like ordinary employees do.
When Minister Mizzi travels to China, he does so on the taxpayer’s time and at the taxpayer’s expense.
China has a good grip on Joseph Muscat’s balls.
China rubs nuts together as a national pass-time:
https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/money-grows-trees-great-walnuts-033239832.html
They even go to great detail for shape, with a name for the variances.
That’s the extent of detail going into nut possession, collection and trade.
Konrad Mizzi is accountable to the public who voted him into public office so he needs to give a statement to all and sundry as he did for the 2c reduction in tariff.
Furthermore since his government was so keen on making an election cry of transparency and accountability, he should be making all the documents available to the press and the general public, whilst the Prime Minister should be calling an election next March.
After all he had tendered his resignation if the power station would not be completed in time. This will definitely answer his call of not wasting public funds with the next local council elections.
Well if Minister Joe Mizzi has to fly out to meet a bidder in Spain then surely Minister Konrad Mizzi is expected to do the same…
Has Konrad Mizzi’s wife changed her name to Shangai Electric?
Does anyone know who went with Konrad Mizzi?
Cabinet ministers do not fly out alone for business meetings. How long was this visit? Anyone who travels for work knows how work days are carefully calculated to the minimum number.
Are Chinese companies in the habit of summoning foreign government minsters?
Isn’t PBS and TVM in the business of informing us about these foreign investment trips by cabinet Ministers?
Why didn’t they say anything about this trip in the 8.00pm news?
“It is not senior members of government who visit corporations for meetings, flying halfway across the world to do so, but the other way round. Shanghai Electric should be flying to Malta for meetings with Konrad Mizzi.”
Spot on. Exactly my thoughts. In most business settings, the service provider, or the investor does the trip to see the client. But then again, Joe Mizzi went to Spain to see Autobuses de Leon in action did he not? And no one said anything much.
All they want is a jolly at the taxpayers’ expense. Wiehed biex mar sa Spanja, l-iehor mar jara l-mara u t-tfal, u l-Gahan icapcap u jdoqq il-hornijiet.
And let’s keep our voices down. The PN is sleeping.
And now the Chinese are not trusting Muscat and Mizzi. They are demanding assurances from Muscat, those assurances that we (at least I) had been asking about all along.
From whom will Enemalta purchase the power it needs for Malta? Interconnector? China’s BWSC plant? Or from the LNG consortium?
One of them must remain redundant and we all know which one it will be: the invisible one. It will remain invisible for ever.
Isn’t this just fine and dandy?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141014/local/enemalta-deal-delayed-as-china-asks-for-assurances.539649
Anyone with a bit of a brain knows that with Muscat’s back to the wall because of his non-performance and failed deadlines, he HAS to bend over backwards for the Chinese.
[Daphne – Bend over backwards? From where I’m standing, it looks like both he and Konrad Mizzi are bending forwards.]
This is a basic rule for those who do business with giants. Either the deal is airtight and fully done and dusted or, because of your limited capabilities, you would be allowed to stick your neck out and then are hung out to dry.
Perhaps it would be a good idea for the PM to take that master’s course in Chinese Medicine and Culture. Are spin doctors eligible?
And there was the fool thinking that the Chinese will do a saintly deal just because they have a soft spot for Malta. As they say the fool is the one who does not learn from history.
Konrad Mizzi is doing exactly like the prime minister, when he was summoned more than once by his masters in China:
1. First, to sign the MOU of 2010 which is still secret here in Malta.
2. Second, to sign the MOU of 2013, in which he agreed to privatise 30% of Enemalta to Communist China.
3. Third, to sign an MOU in a building overlooking Tienanmen Square in which he was offered a breakwater.
This is neo-colonialism. China thinks that Malta is an African country.
There is something else between the lines in this article:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141012/local/konrad-mizzi-gas-plant-target-date-postponed.539329
“He said work on the new plant has been held up by three-way talks between Enemalta, Electrogas – the contractor responsible for the new power station – and Shanghai Electric in relation to the way the new gas power station will interface with the BWSC plant…”
Well, I hope that his presence in Beijing – or wherever he is in China – is truly related to these talks, and if this is the case – you know, I don’t believe a word they say anymore – then those talks should in fact be four-way talks, not just three way. Why is the Minister excluding the government from the talks?
If Shanghai Electric, which is not yet a shareholder of Enemalta, is involved in the talks to protect the minority interest it intends to acquire, then shouldn’t the Maltese government be in those talks as the current shareholder of Enemalta, future holder of 60-70% of Enemalta, and as protector of the Maltese public interest?
Any deal that comes out of those talks – if there are truly any talks taking place – must be the most beneficial to Malta, and Konrad Mizzi as the Maltese Minister must ensure that, and he should be held accountable for this by the Opposition, the media, and websites like this.
Our energy bill has arrived and over this past year and a half we’ve noticed a reduction of just one euro a day. Therefore if this is anywhere near the average – ghall-1 Euro BISS hx**** lil Malta! There is really no other way of saying it.
U ejja,miskin,sejjer jiehu wahda.
The PL swept into power thanks to the money of unknown origin that helped finance its expensive electoral campaign.
”By the fruits you will know the roots”
“Idiotic” is really the best word to use.
It is very obvious that this is their ‘way’ of doing things.
If we had to mention everything, we could also mention the fact that our bright spark Joe Mizzi travelled to Spain to meet the new bus service providers. Either to show how ‘meticulous and on the ball’ they are or just as an excuse for a holiday.