It makes you wonder why the Finance Ministry Parliamentary Secretary, Tonio Fenech, felt he should point out that the government could not subsidise the rent for space at the Dar Malta building in Brussels. Constituted bodies, he said when the refurbished building was re-opened just last week, may rent office space at Dar Malta against commercial fees.

Dar Malta, as the huge building has been named, has 13 storeys and is situated in Rue Archimede, only metres away from the European Commission. It will be the premises of the Maltese Permanent Representation to the EU and of the Maltese Embassy.

No one has forgotten that the building cost Lm9 million to purchase, including the Lm2.5 million refurbishment expenses. Rather, the building’s re-opening brought to mind the controversy that surrounded the purchase.

The most basic question that was asked when the purchase was made, to which of course the government had an answer (whether it was a convincing one is another matter), was why it was felt so necessary for Malta to have such a large property in such a place – so close to the European Commission. Because it was so close, its location made the building much more expensive than other buildings elsewhere, which could have been equally large – if that much space was needed – and perhaps even in better condition, so needing less costly refurbishment.

No matter what the government says, such close proximity to the European Commission was not that important. This does not mean that the Permanent Representation and the embassy could have been housed at the other end of Belgium, of course, only that Malta did not need a building so close to the European Commission offices.

Other larger EU members thought they could do with smaller buildings in other parts of the Belgian capital. The Maltese government has not convincingly explained why the close proximity in Rue Archimede to the European Commission was necessary – especially in this day and age of modern and highly flexible communications, when contact with the European Commission can be had at the touch of a button.

In spite of the close proximity, that will still be the way that contact will be made, using modern means. Embassy staff, or the staff of the Permanent Representation, will not be crossing Rue Archimede to make contact with the Commission, nor are they expected to. They will still be making the daily, repeated contacts by telephone or other means from their office.

And it needs to be recalled that Malta was, at the time of the purchase – and still is today, after so many economic sacrifices – cash-strapped. It could ill-afford such expenditure then, or now, when the country could have done with less. This is not to say that purchasing, rather than renting, was the wrong decision, or that there was anything underhand. It is saying only that Malta could have done with less space, and with a bit less proximity. In the financial circumstances the country was in, and still is, that was warranted.

Many of these points have been made before, but they do need raising again, because they remain as valid today as when they were first made. It is perhaps because of these points, which caused so much controversy when the property was purchased, that the opening of Dar Malta was not given so much prominence by the government, and that no date has as yet been set for its official opening.

Now the government is ready to offer office space for lease. Of course it would be at commercial rates. Did that need to be said? Why should anyone doing business in Brussels expect his offices to be subsidised by the people in his country who are already sufficiently burdened with taxation?

There is considerable office space to rent – four storeys of it at least. Let us hope that the commercial rates to be charged will give a sufficiently good return. And let us also hope that demand for rented office space will be strong enough to make those rates really “commercial”, not give-away rates made so by market forces driven by the realisation that escaped the government – that perhaps close proximity to the Commission is not all that necessary.