Midday Briefing
Works on new hospital for Gozo to start in this legislature – PM
Work on a new Gozo hospital will start in this legislature announced the Prime Minister. This announcement came by the Prime Minister during an event he was addressing in Gozo on Sunday. The reference to a new Gozo hospital comes in the wake of a court decision that annulled the Steward hospitals concession contract concluded during the Muscat administration. The court attributed fraudulent behaviour to the private concessionaires and ordered that the Gozo, St Luke’s and Karin Grech hospitals be returned to the government. Abela acknowledged that over the past years, there were “instances” when the Labour government could have done better. He said the government will continue to listen to critics and all those who believe it can do better.
Alternative airline planned as fears that EC will not give Air Malta aid grow
MaltaToday reports that the Maltese government is planning to set up an alternative national airline that could be set to replace Air Malta. In a turn of events forced by negotiations in Brussels over the prospects of future state aid for the ailing national airline, the alternative company is in the works as part of a contingency plan to retain Malta’s connectivity with the rest of Europe. A high-ranking government source told MaltaToday the administration was not hopeful about talks with the European Commission for yet more capital injections to keep Air Malta afloat. “The reality is that the government is in the final stages of setting up an alternative national airline to replace Air Malta,” the source said. The new airline would be rebuilt from scratch. “The plan will mean a more streamlined and efficient company run on strictly commercial lines,” the source said, suggesting a more cut-throat approach to the business of running the government-owned airline
Morning Briefing
EU-Med States call for repatriation of migrants, not rescues
Interior Ministers from the five EU-Med countries took a hard position on migration, agreeing that the voluntary solidarity mechanism was “not producing the desired results”, emphasising the need to repatriate those arriving in Europe illegally. The Ministers from Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Spain agreed on this position in preparation of the forthcoming EU Council of Ministers. The countries agreed on the need for prevention and repatriation rather than beefing up rescues at sea.(TVM)
PN protest open to those who believe Malta deserves better – Bernard Grech
PN and Opposition leader Bernard Grech invited all those that believed that Malta deserved better to join the party’s National protest on Sunday. In an address on party tv Grech spoke of the recent significant wins by his party in court and promoted the PN’s Sunday protest at 3.30pm in front of Castille. Grech said that it was the Labour government that negotiated the “corrupt and fraudulent” contracts for the concession of the three state hospitals to Vitals/Steward and that it was Prime Minister Robert Abela and his friends that kept defending the deal. (Maltatoday)
Dalli rejects serving as link between Muscat and Pilatus
Former minister John Dalli denied ever introducing Joseph Muscat to the former owner of Pilatus Bank, but stopped short of denying that he introduced the then-prime minister to a key Vitals Global Healthcare investor. The former PN Minister turned Labour consultant was reacting to a claim by Jason Azzopardi, who on Friday said John Dalli was “the common denominator” underlying Joseph Muscat’s relationship with former Pilatus Bank owner Ali Sadr and one of the Vitals investors, Shaukat Ali. Dalli said he intends to take legal action against the former PN MP. (Times of Malta)
