In a meeting today with EU Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Vera Juorova, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil brought up the thorny subject of who exactly are the new owners of three of Malta's state hospitals - St Luke's Hospital, Karen Grech Hospital and the Gozo General Hospital.

"In a democratic country, people should know who the owners of the now privatised hospitals are," Dr Busuttil said in the meeting.  "In Malta, however, the people do not know who the new owners are."

Dr Busuttil said that "in a serious democracy, such things should not be allowed to continue as though they were nothing."   Simon Busuttil said that he believed democracy seriously, so these things can not be allowed to run nod.

Referring to the Panama Papers scandal, in which Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister's chief of staff Keith Schembri had been implicated, Dr Busuttil said the two people did not represent the real spirit of the Maltese people.

On gender equality, Dr Busuttil said he was proud to have been the first Nationalist Party leader to have appointed an equal number of women and men to his shadow cabinet.

He also praised the Commissioner for having established the European Prosecutor's Office, as well as her work against money laundering.

Also present for the meeting were the PN's Shadow Minister for Justice, Democracy and Citizens Rights Jason Azzopardi, Shadow Minister for Social Policy Paula Mifsud Bonnici, the PN's Spokesperson for Citizen's Rights Clyde Puli and the Nationalist parliamentary group whip David Agius.

 

Another weak attempt to tarnish the country's name - Labour

In a reaction, the Labour Party said the Dr Busuttil had once again attempted to tarnish the country's good name, this time with a European Commissioner.  Dr Busuttil, Labour said, was nothing but negative for having spoken against the €200 million investment in the country's healthcare system.