At a meeting  held recently, I was told that the time has come to establish an arrangement by which persons and enterprises can get insurance with respect to a pandemic like Covid-19. It seems that at present no insurance policy exists by which to cover such an occurrence, placing those who have been seriously affected financially by the pandemic in a position where they cannot recover, as they would have on its basis, even part of the losses they had to carry.

According to the promoters of this idea, it has the support of European consumers as well as of businesses and the insurance industry. However for it to float, the interest and participation of national governments and of the European Union would be indispensable.

Two queries become relevant: How probable is it that there will be a repeat of the corona virus story? – so that it would be prudent to create some form of insurance policy to counter it?

And secondly: All things considered, how different is the impact of the pandemic from that of different phenomena that have happened or might still happen, triggering disasters in different regions of the globe? – such as climate change, a succession of earthquakes, nuclear explosions that contaminate whole regions? – and which are frequently tagged with the label “acts of God”...

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THE TUNNEL

That the Gozo tunnel has again been mentioned in news items shows it has much backing. Among those who are most militant in its promotion, one finds Gozo’s business chamber – an energetic and innovative organization which I always admired for being so proactive.

Yet I continue to be surprised by its commitment to the tunnel, and even more so when it seems to believe – like the government after all – that this project can be run commercially and leave a profit.

Personally I doubt whether this is doable even if profits are simply calculated on the basis of current revenues set off against current expenditures while capital outlays are put to the side.

Perhaps the publication of a serious study that considers the financial viability of the Gozo tunnel has been published, but if so as of now, I have not seen a copy of it.

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THE END OF BREXIT?

If the negotiations about the design of the future relations between the UK and the EU stay blocked up to the bitter end, in all sectors involved there would obviously occur massive disruption. Among them some are crucial to the economic and social life of both sides.

No one desires to see this disruption happen but at the end, hardedged positions... even if they had loosened somewhat... still remained too hard.

The possibility was mooted to extend the time during which an agreement could be reached... although the British Prime Minister had declared right from the start that he wanted a decision to be reached by end year. Maybe he could change his mind, now that Donald Trump has lost the US presidential election?

Meanwhile in the European Parliament, it seems like the enthusiasm there was for the Parliament to carry out a detailed scrutiny of any agreement (as some members desired) has abated. If an agreement is reached, there wil be no time for protracted debates. Now apparently, a clear majority exists for the agreement to be approved off the bat.