Malta News Roundup

CorporateDispatchPro DispatchPro

DENISE GRECH

Malta News

ROUNDUP

The EU Commission’s winter forecast expects Malta’s economy to grow by 4.5 percent this year after a biting contraction in 2019. The report anticipates a modest recovery in 2022 as net exports return to normal levels.

The Auditor General told a parliamentary committee that the Electrogas power station agreement includes four liability clauses that would force the government to pay investors €417 million if the deal were terminated.

Media house LovinMalta filed a constitutional action seeking to annul a provision in the Broadcasting Act that allows political party stations to circumvent the impartiality principle by cancelling each other out. One and Net, the media arms of the two political parties, said they will challenge the case.

The Nationalist Party criticised the appointment of former Finance Minister Edward Scicluna as governor of the Central Bank, which gives him an automatic seat on the Financial Services Authority board. The PN said the move is a blow to the country’s credibility.

Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said that Air Malta is losing €170,000 every day in operational losses. The minister said the government will seek permission from Brussels to inject state support into the ailing national airline.

The Union of Midwives and Nurses said that initial talks with the authorities over an exodus of nurses leaving for the UK were encouraging. Reports revealed that British recruiters were targeting healthcare workers in Malta to keep up with the demand in the sector.

CorporateDispatchPro DispatchPro

The Abortion Support Network announced that more than 200 people sought its services since it was established in Malta in 2019. The NGO said request for help ranged from advice on abortion clinics to funding for trips abroad.

The state broadcaster, PBS, was ordered by the Industrial Tribunal to pay former CEO John Bundy €230,000 for unfair dismissal. The PBS board, which had fired Bundy over allegations of breaching procurement rules, vowed to appeal the ruling.

A contractor and a construction worker charged with the involuntary homicide of a woman who died in a house collapse last year, chose to stand trial. Another two men facing the same charges will be judged by a Court of Magistrates.

A country lane in Dwejra was paved over with cement by Infrastructure Malta, the agency responsible for roadbuilding. Members of a conservation NGO deplored the decision, pointing out that the path had historical value.