They said it here... (part 5)
Sunday, 7 January 2024, 10:00
Last update: about 5 months ago
The Malta Independent on Sunday carried several interviews during the course of 2023. Here are some of the more meaningful quotes
"You get a European passport, European citizenship through Maltese citizenship. So that makes it a problem for the EU. If the Maltese authorities decided to sell all these passports and citizenships to Russian oligarchs and God knows who else, they get free European citizenship as a result." - Jeroen Lenaers, EPP Party, 1 October
"If the public service functions properly and efficiently, there will not be the need of any ministerial customer care." - Marthese Portelli, Chamber of Commerce CEO, 8 October
" What we, as the European Commission representation in Malta, need to do is to further instil in citizens the knowledge that it is not just about funds, but the European Union has brought a drastic change in our daily lives." - Lorenzo Vella, Head of the European Commission representation in Malta, 8 October
"If you ask me how many times I report to the police on allegations I receive (about abuse in social accommodation), then I tell you that this happens once a week." - Roderick Galdes, Social Housing Minister, 15 October
"There are no switches in the economy... we cannot turn the switch on our quantity-based economy off today and turn on the switch with a new economic vision tomorrow morning... it doesn't work like that." - Josef Vella, UHM Voice of the Workers CEO, 15 October
"I told Robert (Abela), in his face that had I been a Member of Parliament with him, I would have voted against him (on the Jean Paul Sofia public inquiry), whatever the consequences." - Conrad Borg Manche, Gzira mayor after resigning from Labour Party, 22 October
"(Mater Dei Hospital) was not adequate then, and it definitely isn't adequate now. That is why the outpatient services seem chaotic." - Godfrey Farrugia, former Health Minister, 22 October
"To, after 10 years, end up admitting that you have an economic model which needs to change because the country is facing big problems which were caused by that same economic model... (means) that the government itself is realising that the last 10 years represent decisions which damaged the country rather than improved it." - Lawrence Gonzi, former Prime Minister, 29 October
"It would have made sense for the Attorney General and the Prime Minister to resign (after the hospitals' deal Court of Appeal judgment) and then for newly installed public officials to actually take the action." - Adrian Delia, former PN leader, 5 November
"In this worst-case, but most likely scenario, Malta will lose its role as a transhipment hub with the catastrophic repercussions affecting Malta Freeport Terminals." - Kevin J. Borg, Malta Maritime Forum CEO, 12 November
"People no longer experience traffic just at rush hour, it's from morning till evening, and it's everywhere." - Paul Abela, Chamber of SMEs president, 12 November
"Government wants people to forget about the hospitals' deal court judgement, and it is up to us not to let this happen." - Beppe Fenech Adami, PN MP, 19 November
"If big shipping lines move to nonEU ports as a result of an environmental tax that will be introduced by the European Union next year it will be close to impossible to bring them back." - Ann Fenech, maritime law expert, 26 November
"The Correctional Services Agency must be understood as an integral system that collaborates with services on the outside. We cannot make the mistake of seeing an inmate as only an offender." - Steve Libreri, Prisoner Welfare Commissioner, 3 December
"A legal lacuna, which meant that there was no authority overseeing the standards of construction in free-standing buildings such as the one which collapsed and killed youngster Jean Paul Sofia still exists." - Jesmond Muscat, CEO of the Building Construction Authority, 17 December