Listening to a debate on RTK recently, I heard the new “vici-Kap” of GonziPN, Simon Busuttil, being very economical with the truth – in more common language, lying!

His first lie was when he quoted Dr Alfred Sant as saying – prior to the election – that Malta would only receive “Lm1.5 million a year from the EU”! The truth is that the Lm1.5 million would be the balance after deducting the money Malta would pay into the EU budget from the amount of money coming from the EU!

The second lie is much more revealing, since it proves that Dr Sant had been off the mark but for a totally different reason: To date, Malta has received much less that it has paid to the EU. The proof has been given to us by Dr Sant himself on 10 December 2012. But on RTK, Dr Busuttil said that “Malta has received €1 billion”!

In his regular comment to inewsmalta.com, Dr Sant gave the following amounts as contributions to the EU by Malta from 2007 to 2011: 2007 – €53.1 million; 2008 – €63.9 million; 2009 – €62.9 million; 2010 – €59.8 million; 2011 – €67 million. A grand total of €306.7 million. This amount does not include about one and half billion euros of funds and other obligations which Malta is bound with to protect the euro!

On the other hand, in a reply to a parliamentary question put by Labour MEP Edward Scicluna, the European Commission informed him that between 2007 and October 2012, Malta had received the amount of €278 million. This includes €80 million which has still not been spent. And if it is not utilised soon, it will be lost! This means that between 2007 and 2011, apart from the financial obligations with which Malta has bound itself because of the euro, Malta has ended paying much more to the EU than it has received!

I have not read one word from the finance minister or anybody else in GonziPN, including Dr Gonzi and his “vici-Kap” denying what has been written by Dr Sant. And may I add another hefty amount of money that was not mentioned by him? The London-based organisation Open Europe has calculated that it is costing Malta €72.5 million a year to introduce and implement EU regulations. Once again, I have never read or heard any denial from any one in GonziPN to this report.

Will Dr Gonzi and Dr Busuttil come clean on the above, or do they prefer to keep silent to avoid showing that they badly hoodwinked Maltese and Gozitan voters about the supposed EU bonanza –that Lm100 million a year from the EU!

Eddy Privitera

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