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Showing posts from January, 2014

Remember, remember, Scicluna in December

Now that "the government that listens" has made it clear it will neither listen to the Maltese people nor the European institutions, and that it will rough-shod ahead with its "leading programme" of selling Maltese citizenships, we'd do well to review with hindsight how Edward Scicluna, our Minister of Finance, had replied to questions and tried to misguide the European Parliament on this scheme ( click here for video ). Scicluna had told the EP that the scheme will be capped to around 50 a year (therefore 250 in five years) and that the €8 to €15 million funds made from this scheme will not be necessary to balance our budget. "They're just a token, no big deal compared to our €3 billion budget." On the other hand, Muscat is now saying that it will be capped to 1,800 foreigners (7 times more than Scicluna's cap) and that it will generate in excess of €1 billion (70 times more than his actual Finance Minister's highest estimate). Var

The tent at Mater Dei - signs of nepotism going wrong

Last Friday eyebrows were raised when government decided to set up a tent outside Mater Dei to house the reception while the reception area was to be prepared for a potential influx of influenza cases in the coming weeks. The man who faced the media onslaught was Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia, who first gave a press conference to explain why government believed this tent was needed, only to be then publicly shamed by a Prime Minister who likes to play hero. But in all honesty, I believe that Farrugia is facing the flak for the wrong decisions being taken by others, the roots of which go back to the way Cabinet was composed back in March. We know that a number of beds at Mater Dei are occupied by elderly patients who cannot be sent home because no one is available to care for them, what have been commonly termed as 'social cases'. Up to March, a policy was in place to give preference to such patients when beds became available at elderly residences such as St. Vincent