The issue of the funds which have been transferred from the purchase of electric buses to the subsidisation of private electric cars can be taken as another signal that in this country, the priority tilts towards private transport when contrasted to public systems.

However there is a wider consideration. After all, it is necessary for both private and public transport to switch to electric power. What is striking though is the explanation given for why funds have been switched from one objective to the other.

How can it be said that public funds for both were not available, when subsidies on energy continue to be paid out for all? What would have made sense was for subsidies to be retained for all those who cannot afford high energy prices. But those who are doing quite well thank you very much, would have to pay the true energy prices. On the basis of the savings thus made, additional funds would have been available to finance subsidies to both electric buses and private vehicles. Such a decision would have been economically and socially sound and progressive.

An interesting thought:  no political party has taken a look at this aspect of things...

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BOOKSTORES

They're continuing to decline in number, not just in Malta. Everywhere they're closing down.

The most recent casualities I heard about are located in Brussels and Berlin. In the Belgian capital, Filigranes is wellknown for the wide selection of books it features in three outlets located in the centre of the city. True, over the last two years, they faced crises in their management. But the worst crisis has been that they're no longer viable. It's been said that prospective buyers have been found for Filigranes. Still, one can only fear that soon the establishment will close forever.

The same has been happening to a famous bookstore located in the German Parliament. It has closed down with on its door a note that the business is insolvent. Books and other products are still in the shop since their clearance is awaiting the recovery from some illness of the manager concerned.

Nothing's left to do except resign oneself to the fact that bookstores have no future, indeed no present.

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HYPOCRISY

In the wake of the manipulative game by which Dr Edward Zammit Lewis was turned down as a judge in the European Court of Justice, we heard a lot of chatter from those who organised the game, about how steadfast European standards of governance are in the defence of the rule of law.

Meanwhile in Belgium, the person who till some days ago was responsible at the European Commission for justice and the rule of law was accused of having committed the crime of money laundering when he was serving as a Belgian minister. This was prior to the years before he became a Commissiner in 2019, so it has been alleged.

Many times Mr Didier Reynders spoke out authoritatively about governance and the rule of law with the aura of an apostle proclaiming how matters should be conducted. Before him and as long ago as yesterday, Maltese "defenders" of the rule of law were genuflecting in his direction.

If there's something which I find really offputting about the EU it's the sanctimonious hypocrisy of some of those who claim to be its best supporters, not least in Malta.