Jason Azzopardi
I refer to the editorial of Sunday 15th February entitled "The government impaled by its own decision" which spoke about this government's pre-electoral agreement with the Monti stall holders to relocate the daily Monti to both sides of Ordnance Street, and in which it was stated that "this commitment was also made by the Nationalist Party at 4pm on Election Day".
This is not true and a gross distortion of the truth. Even a cursory look at the email I sent on 9th March 2013 can attest to this, written in reaction to the Monti hawkers enquiring that day whether the PN would have been ready to commit itself as the Labour Party did in secret two days before, and allow them to set up shop next to Piano's Parliament.
In my email, which I myself showed to the media, and which was reported way back in May 2013, I wrote thus "A skans ta' ekwivoci, l-area go Triq l-Ordinanza li tkun tista' tkun okkupata ma tkunx tista' taqbez 'l barra minn Triq ir-Repubblika u tkun il-parti tat-Triq l-Ordinanza fuq in-naha tas-Shopping Arcade, Palazzo Ferreria u d-Dipartiment tas-Sigurta Socjali, u ghalhekk mhux biswit il-bini tal-Parlament il-gdid." ("to avoid any doubt, the part of Ordnance Street which can be occupied will not go beyond Republic Street, and thus will be in the part of Ordnance Street adjacent to the Shopping Arcade, Palazzo Ferreria and the Social Security Department, and therefore not adjacent to the new Parliament building"). Thus ,it should be crystal clear that the PN was always against the relocation of the Monti next door to Piano's Parliament, as opposed to the Labour Party which bound itself to do precisely that by means of a secret and written deed signed with five Monti representatives a mere 48 hours before voting day.
I have no difficulty whatsoever in having political decisions subject to scrutiny and to objective criticism. It is grist to the mill and par for the course. But I hope to be allowed neither to accept nor ignore such a blatant untruth being bandied about in an editorial as Gospel truth.
Allow me to also point out that Leader of the Opposition Simon Busuttil went further in his stand and stated in no uncertain terms that, although there was no PN pre-electoral commitment to relocate the Monti next to the Piano project, even if there was, he is the new party leader and he disagrees with such a move. He added that if the Labour government proceeds regardless of the chorus of public disapproval, a future PN government would not allow the Monti to be in the vicinity of the Piano project. The PN position can hardly be clearer.
Dr Jason Azzopardi MP