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| Luciano Busuttil: excuse me? |
Luciano Busuttil, the PL's spokesperson on EU Affairs, posted the following facebook message:
"L-inkoerenza
tal-politika Ewropea tal-Gvern ta’ Lawrence Gonzi harget fid-deher nhar
it-Tnejn meta l-Prim Ministru baqa cass minghajr ma tniffes quddiem
dikjarazzjoni tal-Kummissarju Ewropew Johannes Hahn li Malta se ddahhal
anqas fondi mill-Unjoni Ewropea ghaliex mhux se tkun qed tikkwalifika
ghall-istatus ta’ Objective 1."
What does the Labour minister in waiting mean by "il-Prim Ministru baqa' cass minghajr ma tniffes"? The EU is not a village band club. It takes its decisions on the basis of numbers and rules, not winks and nudges. If we do not qualify, that is all there is to it.
I find it rather disconcerting that the PL's spokesperson on the subject does not seem to have grasped this elementary feature of EU operations. Incidentally, Busuttil failed to mention that even if Malta is struck off the Objective 1 funding list, it could still qualify for other funds.
There is a deeper point at issue here. We should be proud that this country is being weaned off EU aid. It's a sign of economic and institutional health, not sickness. It means that we are becoming more self-reliant.
A final thought. It is rather ironic that the party which objected to EU membership because of loss of national sovereignty is now complaining that the financial umbilical cord to the EU is being cut off.
13 comments:
Is it possible that Dr. Busuttil is right in saying that Malta did not manage to adequately negotiate its ability to still get a large chunk of funds in the coming programming period? Don't you think that Malta will not be receiving Objective 1 Funds, not because we performed exceptionally well economically, but because there are new Member states such as Romania and Bulgaria that joined in 2007, and because the economies of countries such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal are going to the dogs, thus automatically pushing up our standing against the average EU GDP?Don't you think that it would be slightly presumptious to say that Malta is exceeding other 'poor' countries only after barely 7 years in the Union; something which took Ireland over 20 years to do? I have nothing against maltese workers but come on, you know that we are not better off economically, OR socially than say five years ago. How is it possible that we are doing so well when all the statistics and perception indexes show a negative picture? There is something more to what the PM and the Commissioner said, don't you think?
what do you expect from these people? For them all the EU now means is milking as much money as possible from it. They dont realize that the less we receive and the more we give, the better our economy is going. You then need to realize what sort of people he is addressing also....
"We should be proud that this country is being weaned off EU aid. It's a sign of economic and institutional health, not sickness. It means that we are becoming more self-reliant."
I have my doubts on that. Since 2004 Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU which made the EU actually "poorer"
What the PL is advocating is that Malta behave likes those 'crafty' persons who continue to receive unemployment benefits while holding down a couple of jobs.
Luciano was never the brightest star in the firmament or the sharpest toothpick in the box.
Objective One, try harder. It is SO obvious that you're a Labour 'Elve' pretending to be non-partisan.
Let me guess: are you the guy who's always watching films and changing his pseudonym according to which message board he's posting on?
There's nothing objective in what you say, only a Mintoffian would claim that we are not better off than five years ago.
When you refer to Luciano Busuttil, don't forget to add DOCTOR in front.He is a LAWYER you know, not just anyone.
@ Antoine: You are the kind of individual
that rather than speaking with facts
resorts to petty and childish arguments.
I am neither a labourite nor a nationalist,
I only see things as they are. Unfortunately,
in your posting you failed to reply to
any of my arguments, I gave you tangable
proof of why Malta's position has 'improved'
& you said nothing - just a meager 'only
a Mintoffian would claim that we are not better
off than five years ago'. How is that?
I know very few people that can say that
with such ease as you wrote it. The facts are
clear, Malta will get less funds and will
most probably become a net contributor and
not a net beneficiary!
Anonymous replies to Objective One ....the answers to your questions .... NO
Looks like the "Ahleb Guz" mentality is alive and well
Objective One, don't persist in your silliness.
First of all, out of the 27 EU members, only 8 are net contributors. If Malta were to join them it would mean we're one of the 9 richest European countries, which would not be bad at all.
As regards the progress made by Malta since joining the EU, you can see it all around you. It takes a lot of insincerity to insist that we're not better off: a foolishness worthy of the CNI.
So no, I do not believe you are objective; on the contrary, you're the quintessential Labour Elve.
I don't mind debating with people who are openly Labour supporters but I hate hypocrites.
I contact a government source to react to what Luciano Busuttil said. Here it is:
"A Member State’s eligibility for Convergence (Objective 1) status in relation to Structural funds is based on the relative wealth of a State as compared to the other 26 Member States. The threshold is 75% of the average GDP per capita of the EU-27. If Malta goes above this threshold, under the Commission proposal for 2014 to 2020, Malta will move from Convergence (Objective 1) status to a new “transition” status. It is proposed that this transition status give countries like Malta two-thirds of its current allocation of Structural funds. That is the allocation received in the 2007-2013 financial period.
It is pertinent to note that this refers only to Structural funds and that in terms of Cohesion funds Malta remains eligible for the current full allocation of funding.
It must be noted that the placing of Malta in this new “transition” status, which is not the Regional Competitiveness and Employment (Objective 2) status, can only be taken once Eurostat finalises the relevant data."
STQARRIJA TAL-GVERN
Risposta għall-istqarrija maħruga mill-Partit Laburista:
Qeda issir referenza għall-istqarrija maħruga llum mill-Partit Laburista dwar fondi mill-Unjoni Ewropea.
Kif jaf kulħadd, in-negozjati dwar il-proposta tal-Kummissjoni Ewropea dwar il-fondi għas-snin
2014-2020 għadhom fil-bidu tagħhom u għalhekk stqarrijiet dwar kemm ser tieħu Malta f’fondi
Ewropej fl-aħħar ta’ dawn in-negozjati – li huma mistennija ikomplu sa tmiem l-2012 – huma biss spekulazzjonijiet.
Kuntrarjament għal dak li intqal fl-istqarrija tal-Partit Laburista, il-Gvern Malti huwa attiv ħafna f'dawn in-negozjati bil-għan li jiŜgura li Malta tieħu l-fondi li jistħoqqilha għall-perjodu 2014-2020.
Barra minn hekk, il kategorija li ser tapplika għal Malta (‘Convergence Region (li qabel kien jissejjah Objettiv 1)’ jew ‘Transition Region’ tista’ tiāi determinata biss ladarba l-Eurostat jiffinalizza
d-data rilevanti fl-2012 u wara li n-negozjati dwar il-proposta tal-Kummissjoni jiāu finalizzati.
Fil-proposta tagħha l-Kumissjoni qed tipproponi li l-eliāibbiltà ta' Stat Membru għall-istatus ta’
Konvergenza (Objettiv 1) fir-rigward tal-fondi Strutturali ikun ibbazat fuq il-gid relattiv ta' Stat kif imqabbel mal-Istati Membri l-oħra. Il-limitu, biex Stat Membru jikkwalifika għall-istatus ta’ Konvergenza huwa 75% tal-Prodott Gross Domestiku (PGD) per capita medja tal-UE-27. Jekk
Malta teccedi dan il-limitu ta 75% minħabba tkabbir ekonomiku (li huwa ippruvat), taħt il-proposta tal-Kummissjoni Malta timxi minn l-istatus ta’ Konvergenza (Objettiv 1) u tikkwalifika għall-istatus
ādid ta "tranŜizzjoni". Dawk l-Stati Membri li ser jaqaw taħt l-istatus ādid ta’ "tranzizzjoni" serigawdu minn minimu ta’ zewg terzi tal-allokazzjoni prezenti tal-Fondi Strutturali. Huwa pertinenti li wieħed jinnota li dan jirreferi biss għall-fondi Strutturali u li f'termini tal-Fondi ta' Koezjoni (Cohesion
Fund) Malta tibqa' eligibbli għall-allokazzjoni sħiħa attwali ta' finanzjament.
Jekk Malta ma’ tibqax taħt il-limitu ta’ 75% minħabba d-dħul tal-Bulgarija u r-Rumanija fl-Unjoni Ewropea, u għalhekk jinħoloq effett statistiku, il-Gvern diāà ħa l-pozizzjoni mal-Kummissjoni Ewropea li f’dan il-kaŜ fondi addizzjonali ser ikunu meħtiega.
Tajjeb ukoll li wieħed isemmi li għal perjodu 2007-2013 Malta se tkun irëiviet ‘il fuq minn biljun ewro f’fondi mill-Unjoni Ewropea. Malta kienet eligibbli għal dawn il-fondi grazzi għad-dħul ta' Malta fl-Unjoni Ewropea u x-xogħol li kien għamel il-Gvern Malti. Il-Partit Laburista kien oppona u li bħala alternattiva offra ‘Partnership’ li kienet issarraf f’miljun u nofs ewro fis-sena f’fondi mill-Unjoni
Ewropea.
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