Parliamentary Assembly of Mediterranean will terminate all services in Malta at end of year

Albert Galea Sunday, 29 September 2019, 11:00 Last update: about 6 years ago

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean will terminate all of its services in Malta at the end of the year as it completes a move to the city of Naples, government sources told The Malta Independent on Sunday.

This brings forward the assembly’s departure, which was initially expected to be in around February of next year.

The Malta Independent on Sunday has already reported that communications coming out of the office were already being marked as emanating from a temporary office in Bucharest, Romania.

Sources speaking to this newsroom noted that the government had seemingly not even noticed that the PAM had left Malta to Bucharest already, and noted that even if the government was to take action it would be “too little too late”.

Established in 2005, the PAM is the principal forum where the national Parliaments of the Euro-Mediterranean region deliberate to reach strategic objectives towards the creation of the best political, social, economic and cultural environment and conditions for the fellow citizens of the member states.

The Headquarters of the General Secretariat of PAM was established in Malta in November 2007, in recognition of Malta’s strategic role and commitment. The premises used were Palazzo Spinola in St. Julian’s, a venue which has apparently been a gripe for the PAM for a number of years due to unanswered calls for maintenance.

“[Palazzo] Spinola needed structural repairs and there was a lot of back and forth and delays in works; they were only promised another place in Paceville once they decided to leave”, sources told this newsroom.

The Malta Independent on Sunday has also reported that the PAM Secretary-General, Sergio Piazzi – whose hometown is Napoli – which will be the PAM’s new home – had left Malta with his secretary following a number of arguments with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Promotion and that almost all of the PAM staff based in Malta had already left, apart from one worker.

The main issue however seems to have been that the PAM expected some action from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. This did not materialise, so they left, the sources said.

The bottom line is, the sources explain, that the government could have avoided this or reacted to it; but it seems that instead it completely neglected the situation.