‘Staff reporter’: the new term for those who write planted stories
Malta Today is carrying a story right now which is so obviously designed to justify our government’s decision to sell much of Malta’s energy-generating capacity and a 33% stake in Enemalta to China.
The story is by ‘a staff reporter’. If it really is by a staff reporter, then why not allow this staff reporter to use his or her name in the by-line? Unless it’s because the staff reporter is Miriam Dalli (the Malta Today one) and the newspaper doesn’t want us saying that she wrote it for Kurt Farrugia.
Staff reporter, my eye.
The Times of Malta and The Sunday Times of Malta used to bill their stories as being ‘by a staff reporter’ in the days when those newspapers did not allow any of their reporters to use a by-line at all.
They did not use names in by-lines in some reporters and ‘by a staff reporter’ in others.
I’m sure Malta Today checked out all the details in this story itself, just like it has given us all that relevant context (it hasn’t).
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http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/world/41593/italy_plans_to_sell_energy_grid_stake_to_china_for_2_billion#.U9Iy88scQdV
Jozef – comments, please.
What Maltatoday doesn’t specify is that Italy signed the first chapter of the strategic agreement the day Muscat was supposed to give us the bxara t-tajba, read two cents off petrol.
The agreement involves the same Shanghai Electric taking a 40% stake in Ansaldo Energia, the gas turbine builder, in return for the Asian market.
Guess which shareholder in Enemalta may find it difficult to accept buying energy produced by one of its competitors, Siemens.
What Maltatoday also fails to mention is that this agreement concerns SNAM, Italy’s gas network and TERNA, the electrical grid’s management department.
In other words, Italy gets to develop China’s urgent changeover to gas and develop state of the art energy transfer efficiency systems, TERNA specialised in monitoring thus reducing energy waste.
TERNA is involved in developing the European grid to an extent where excess production can be sent to Scandinavian countries to top up their dams at night.
China has a major issue with her dams and the miserable results achieved.
Need we say who gets the contracts in China?
Muscat just keeps changing versions, first two tanks, followed by a total capacity implying six, then a ship inside the bay, then maybe a ship outside the bay, then the ship exists, now the ship may be designed and built by CCCC thingy, everything to procrastinate admitting that the PN were right;
The best option is to tap onto a pipeline. And maybe the Chinese don’t really have our level of environmental standards and safety concerns. Let alone the knowhow to deal with that.
http://www.europaquotidiano.it/2014/07/25/in-attesa-di-eni-e-enel-con-2-miliardi-i-cinesi-entreranno-in-terna-e-snam/
That’s 5% of the whole network. Not 100% of the only power plant we’ll have, with an interconnector reduced to a quarter of its capacity. (and is that some condition?)
What’s interesting is that Padoan, Renzi’s finance minister, hinted at an agreement to help China launch its currency, depending on integration of the EU’s banking system.
Or better, China support the idea of an ECB Germany resisted for so long. Germany in turn will insist on democratic reforms. And everyone’s a happy bunny.
Muscat was deluded if he thought China needs Malta.
Jozef, I had already pointed out on this website that the company investing in Enemalta is not Shanghai Electric Group Company Limited but Shanghai Electric Power Co. Ltd. The two are different companies, but their names are confusing.
Shanghai Electric Group Company Limited – the company which is investing in Ansaldo – is the following:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Electric
Shanghai Electric Power Co. Ltd. – the company which is buying 33% in Enemalta – is a subsidiary of China Power Investments.
http://www.italiaoggi.it/news/dettaglio_news.asp?id=201405081214381595&chkAgenzie=ITALIAOGGI
They do refer to it as ‘gruppo’, so you could be right.
http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/impresa-e-territori/2014-05-07/ansaldo-energia-e-shanghai-electric-partner-entrera-il-40percento–211308.shtml?uuid=ABV6rWGB
Still, why would Maltatoday coax us back to the gas network made of pipelines?
Ciccio, Muscat had also mentioned in passing ‘a strategic agreement similar to the one Shanghai Electric had just signed with an Italian energy company’.
He was speaking to the faithful in Gozo.
At least that’s what Maltatoday reported the 17th of May. Can’t find the article.
Either he mixed them up, or Maltatoday did.
Jozef, my comment was originally posted here – you may have missed it, because there were no replies from your side.
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/05/look-at-this-lovely-member-of-the-european-parliament-in-the-making/
In my comment of 17th May, I said the following about Shanghai Electric, which is involved in the Ansaldo deal: “There is a note about the company in the second link which you posted. It sets out the full name as Shanghai Electric Group Co Ltd. Stock exchange codes are: (i) SEHK: 2727; (ii) SSE: 601727…”
I also said that “As far as I am aware, this is not the same company involved at Enemalta. The Chinese company involved at Enemalta is Shanghai Electric Power Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of China Power Investments. Stock exchange code for SSE: 600021.”
Ciccio, jien kont mxahxah nara l-prim ministru fuq it-televixin, u f’hin minnhom qal li Malta behsiebha tiffirma patt strategiku ma Shanghai Electric kif ghamlet diga’ ma ‘kumpanijjja Taljaaana’.
Maltatoday kkupjat kelma b’kelma.
Malta Today’s “staff reporter” might like to look into private Italian ownership of power stations in China.
There’s an article in Reuters about it. The key difference here is that whereas in Italy there was a public auction process in Malta all we get is shady back room deals.
This is the first key point I can see from the little information I have seen so far.
Let us check with real, independent, sources, shall we? This is what Reuters has to say:
“”CDP has admitted SGID to the final stage of the auction procedure started in December 2013,” CDP said.”
“Investment bank Lazard is advising CDP on the sale, while State Grid Corp. of China has hired Morgan Stanley as financial adviser.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/24/italy-china-idUSL6N0PZ1PN20140724
Did MaltaToday mention any of those central facts?
Those points address some of the key criticisms made on this website about Muscat’s deal on Enemalta:
1. Did Muscat get advise on the strategic direction for Enemalta and the energy sector before he dealt with China?
2. Did Muscat issue a call for expression of interest for the privatisation and liberalisation established in 1, if that was the proposed way forward?
No. Muscat dealt directly, and behind the public’s back, with China, without publicly and transparently setting out a strategy path for Enemalta and the energy sector in Malta (and its region) based on expert advice. Muscat did not liberalise the sector, but privatised it to a party which was ‘preferred’ without a bidding process.
That said, Italy is one of the PIGS – a country immersed in debt with a government desperate to remain liquid – what else can one expect? Desperate times call for desperate measures. Besides, Italy is currently by the youngest prime minister of Europe (ahemm).
Italy is building its name in China not selling the only source of power generation.
The title of this piece is misleading but should at least cheer up the most persistent Labour supporters who must be dismayed at the amount of criticism the government is getting on its floundering energy plan.
China will buy 35% of a company (CDP Reti) that owns 30% of another company (Snam) which, in turn owns most, though not all, gas pipelines. This is what China is buying: about 10% of the main Italian natural gas pipeline network.
It’s a totally different situation in Malta where the government has privatised and sold ALL electricity generation in the country and rendered us dependant on the whims of the Chinese and Azerbaijani governments, as well as a few ‘capitalists’.
Renzi also calls it privatisation Antoine, to respect the DEF, deficit procedures.
But then, he’s in open clear formalised conflict with unions.
That real negotiations, those extensive tables with a hundred or so delegates from both sides, take place.
Muscat says his isn’t. GWU happy with that.
Antoine raises another important point in the analysis of what Italy is doing with China here.
In Italy, the electricity grid and the gas distribution networks have been liberalised and privatised for many years.
The electricity grid is owned and run by Terna SpA.
These are some facts to amplify what is reported in the Reuters article:
1. The Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA (CDP) – a public company owned mostly by the Italian government – holds 100% of a private company called CDP Reti Srl (CDP Reti).
2. CPD is a company of the Italian government owning mainly nationalised assets, directly or through the companies controlled by it. CDP holds interests in the Snam gas networks through CDP Reti.
3. At the moment, CDP owns a direct interest of 30% in Terna SpA and CDP Reti owns 30% in the Snam gas networks.
4. It is expected that CDP will transfer its 30% interest in Terna SpA to CDP Reti, so that the latter will own about 30% in the Snam gas network and 30% in Terna SpA.
5. China will acquire from CDP a 35% stake in CDP Reti, so that China acquires the two 30% interests in the electricity and gas networks.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/24/italy-china-idUSL6N0PZ1PN20140724
But Terna SpA is mosty a private company, with 70% of its shares held by private interests which control the company, and it has also been listed on the Italian stock exchange for many years. The CDP owns the other 30% of shares.
Bottom line: China is effectively acquiring a minority share in a private company which is regulated by stock market rules. To acquire this stake, China went through an auction procedure.
Because Terna SpA is a listed business, China could have acquired a similar interest through the stock exchange.
Once again, this contrasts sharply with what Joseph Muscat and his phenomenal Minister of Energy have done with Enemalta.
Daphne, on the subject of MaltaToday whose BS likes Peking duck so much, I can’t but recall that way back during the Mintoff dynasty some nit wit was appointed ambassador to China.
My late mother and her rummy chummies – around whose card-table no points are being awarded for guessing which topics were hot in those torrid days – amused themselves by calling the anointed one the Pee King.
So, if Borg Marks is now the Pee King, dare I assume that you know whom has been crowned Pee Queen?
[Daphne – Forace, wasn’t it? “We are so close that we pee in each other’s pockets.”]
Does Nestor Laiviera still work with Malta Today?
[Daphne – No. He was given a cronyism bazuzlu job at a government ministry.]
Ah another Taghna Lkoll appointment. How cosy.
Now the Chinese can proudly say they have a Maltese panda in their zoo. It feeds on peanuts compared to what the Italians are going to be fed by the Chinese for their stake.