On Monday, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi presented in Parliament the conclusions of the European Council’s two-day summit, which was held in Brussels on 21 and 22 June.

The conclusions of the summit are laid down in four chapters. The first chapter deals with the reform process of the European Union’s constitutional treaty, the second with justice and internal affairs, the third with economic, social and environmental issues and the last chapter deals with the EU’s external relations.

Dr Gonzi said that there had been positive inputs by the French President and the Dutch Prime Minister – heads of government in the countries where the adoption of the European Constitution had been defeated in a referendum. He referred to how Poland was refusing to accept the Council’s voting system in the Constitutional Treaty and was favouring the square root system, in which voting rights would not be fixed according to populations but according to the square root of those populations.

The Prime Minister thanked all those who formed part of the Maltese delegation, particularly Foreign Minister Michael Frendo, Permanent Representative in the EU Richard Cachia Caruana, the staff at the Maltese embassy in Brussels and Attorney General Dr Silvio Camilleri who had accompanied the delegation and assisted in the legal and technical issues.

Labour spokesman for EU affairs George Vella remarked that the ministerial statement should have been made before the summit and not after it. Dr Vella expressed satisfaction with the fact that the German EU Presidency had been determined to find agreement on as many issues as possible in order to be able to swiftly convene an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), which will produce the final text of the Constitutional Treaty. However, he said he was concerned about how much of what had been said would be put into effect. The Charter of Fundamental Rights has to be given its due importance and its contents have to be observed properly, Dr Vella remarked.

Nationalist MP Mario Galea asked the Prime Minister if the changes to the Treaty would reduce the powers allocated to the parliaments of member states, as some have said. The Prime Minister replied that the parliaments powers would not be reduced but would increase through such reforms.

With regard to Malta’s convergence report on the adoption of the euro, Dr Gonzi said that Malta has been given the go-ahead by the European Union to change over from the euro to the lira, which meant that Malta’s economic progress has been recognised.

The next item on the parliamentary agenda was the amendments being proposed to the Malta Resource Authority Act. Labour spokesman for infrastructural services Joe Mizzi continued from where he had left off in the previous sitting, saying that although many statements had been made on renewable energy, as yet no concrete plans had been drafted.

The power stations are faced with huge problems and the cost of solving these problems would amount to between Lm200 and Lm300 million. There is, said Mr Mizzi, no consensus between the government and Enemalta on the amount of the expenses involved. He also spoke about the various electricity cuts that had occurred all over Malta in recent days.

He added that the Malta Resources Authority should protect people. It should not be a rubber stamp but should ensure that prices are reasonable and take everything into consideration.

In his winding up speech, Resources and Infrastructure Minister Ninu Zammit said that, contrary to what had been said by Mr Mizzi, the Malta Resources Authority is working according to established plans. The authority had only been set up six years ago and there has been a gradual improvement over the years.

Mr Zammit explained how the capacity of distribution centres has been increased fivefold and said there has also been a substantial increase in the number of substations. Before 1987, he said, when a new substation was built, it was given a lot of publicity because it was the exception and not the rule. Now there are substations in every part of Malta.

On the issue of solar water heaters, Mr Zammit said that he is in favour of the use of such equipment and pointed out that there is a Lm100 subsidy for people wishing to install solar water heaters. He said that a campaign on efficiency is being undertaken by the Malta Resources Authority.

The amendments to the Malta Resource Authority Act were given a second reading.

The last item on Monday’s agenda was the debate concerning the introduction of the Public Administration Act. Dr Gonzi analysed the reforms to the public administration that have taken place over the last few years. He mentioned in particular the Public Service Reform Commission and the white paper entitled A Public Service for the 21st century launched on 30 October 2003. This white paper was intended to generate a national debate on how public services can be modernised. A national conference was held on 22 January 2004.

Dr Gonzi concluded Monday’s debate by saying that the aim of the Act is the affirmation of the values of public administration as an instrument for the common good, to provide for the application of those values throughout the public sector, and to provide for the organisation and the management thereof.