Saviour Balzan’s ex editor Julia Farrugia is in London with the PM as a representative of the Malta government
Julia Farrugia
Isn’t it incredible? This government has put Julia Farrugia’s snout in the public trough too. Farrugia is being billed in the news stories about her presence in the PM’s London delegation as a “former Labour Party journalist”.
But more to the point, she is a former Media Today journalist, employed by Saviour Balzan and Roger de Giorgio to edit their Maltese-language newspaper, Illum. She left last year when she had a baby, because editing a newspaper and looking after a baby are pretty much incompatible.
So the Labour government has done for her what it did for Miriam Dalli when she had her baby at roughly the same time: put her snout in the public trough with a comfortable ‘consultancy’ job and a salary for working in her own sweet time.
Miriam Dalli was given a salary as a consultant to Konrad Mizzi when she had her baby and left Vodafone. Julia Farrugia has been given a ‘job’ at ‘Project Malta’.
And there’s an ever-so-charming link between the two ladies. Miriam Dalli is married to Karmenu ‘EU Commissioner Guy’ Vella’s son. Julia Farrugia’s father, Karmenu Farrugia aka Il-Botom, was Karmenu Vella’s long-time driver and henchman (as drivers were in those days) when Vella was a minister in the cabinets of Dom Mintoff and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici.
Julia Farrugia’s father was reportedly part of the carcade that departed from outside parliament and ended with the murder of Raymond Caruana in a Nationalist Party club in 1986, and the framing of farmer Peter Paul Busuttil with the weapon that was used.
What rubbish rational and civilised people have to deal with in this country. Really, what rubbish.
Imagine if the former prime minister had taken me to London as part of his delegation and told the press that I was part of a government structure called Project Malta and that I was now on a salary there – Saviour Balzan would have brought out his chainsaw and dedicated the next 50 issues of his pitiable newspaper to hysterical prose about the subject with 100-pt headlines. And he would still be at it five years later.
But if this prime minister does it with one of Saviour’s ex editors, then that’s fine. Because it’s not Gonzi or Daphne.
The man was always a total hypocrite, beneath contempt. I regard him the way I do because I am rational, but he prefers to say that it’s because I am “venomous”. Well, he would, wouldn’t he.
Better ‘venomous’ than a doormat for dictators, or a collaborator with the heinous in the hope of pudding from their table.
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http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-07-21/news/next-years-chogm-critical-for-the-future-of-the-commonwealth-5919899651/
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140723/local/former-labour-journalist-in-pms-delegation-visiting-uk.528918
“Normal” Hamilton!
In normal countries, sickos are vilified. In Malta, they are put on pedestals.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-28228608
Correction: not in “Malta”, but in “Taghna Lkoll”
And these appointees are simply not up to the challenge. Just look at the way the embassy in Tripoli is operating. A political appointee who is totally unable and incapable of handling and offering professional assistance.
Other EU states sent their top diplomatic agents to Libya. The Labour government sent a political champion.
And more to come, I suppose.
Oh, and the person in charge at the ministry of foreign affairs isn’t too bright either. Can you explain how both the ambassador and the second in command were away from Libya at the same time?
So much for good planning and management.
Excellent post.
What is ‘Project Malta’? If it does exist, government chose a very strange way of informing the public.
A press conference by the relevant minister and Project Malta’s senior officials would have been the correct way to go about it. Instead, a government official refers to it casually to explain why Julia Farrugia is in London with the PM.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140723/local/Julia-Farrugia-lands-role-at-Project-Malta.528853
Former Labour journalist Julia Farrugia has been given a post within a new government entity whose remit will be to coordinate initiatives to attract foreign investment to Malta.
No official announcement was made on her appointment and the presence of Ms Farrugia as part of the official delegation accompanying Prime Minister Joseph Muscat in the UK has raised eyebrows.
A government spokesman yesterday told Times of Malta that Ms Farrugia was representing a new entity called Project Malta.
He added that she did not accompany the Prime Minister for the second part of his trip in Scotland but was only present for the engagements with the business community and prospective investors.
When contacted, Ms Farrugia said she was part of the government’s structures through Projects Malta and had been appointed to the role of “communications and stakeholder coordination”.
“I was in London for one day for meetings and later joined the delegation for a meeting with the Royal Commonwealth Society,” she said.
The spokesman said: “This is a new umbrella organisation unveiled recently by the Prime Minister. It will incorporate various new entities each focusing on particular aspects such as Trade Malta, Property Malta and others which will be unveiled in the coming weeks.”
He specified that the aim was to have a more holistic approach as, at the present moment, investment was being addressed in a fragmented manner.
At the same time Maltese businesses seeking to enter new foreign markets would be assisted by Trade Malta, the spokesman said.
“The organisational structure of Project Malta has not been decided yet, but what I can tell you is that Ms Farrugia was doing some ground work for this new entity,” the spokesman said in reply to further questioning.
He added that he was not in a position to say who would be heading this organisation.
“I will ask her but I have my doubt whether the roles at Project Malta have already been defined.”
Utterly unbelievable. They don’t have the structure, they don’t have the the ‘head’ and the roles are not defined. BUT Julia Farrugia has the job.
Project Malta is best expressed, defined and illustrated by that infamous poster of the 70`s depicting Mintoff with a sledge hammer shattering Malta to pieces and fragments. Joe`s mission is to further the cause and fullfil it.
This goes beyond anything we could have imagined. They are now actually manufacturing troughs for the greedy snouts. With Sai Mizzi, they used Malta Enterprise. They couldn’t do that again so they invent ‘Project Malta’.
In Lebanon, the different factions can be defined and recognised by their face and look.
We have arrived at that stage, yet again.
It’s the Gattopardi amongst them that most make me want to retch at the very thought.