Casino Maltese motion approved

The House of Representatives yesterday approved a motion for the renewal of the emphyteusis of the Casino Maltese in Valletta after exchanges over whether MPs who were club members should vote or declare their membership.

At the start of the sitting the Speaker, Anton Tabone, referred to a request by Labour MP John Attard Montalto on Monday for a ruling on whether MPs who were members of the Casino Maltese could participate in the vote. He ruled that membership of the Casino Maltese did not amount to a direct pecuniary interest in the club as laid down in standing orders, and MPs could therefore take part in the vote.

Nationalist MP Mario Galea, speaking shortly after in the debate, accused the opposition of double standards, pointing out that while Dr Attard Montalto had asked the Speaker for a ruling on possible pecuniary interest, no such qualms were felt when a Labour government in 1997 twice moved parliamentary resolutions for the renewal of the emphyteusis of government properties granted to the Labour Party at Ghajn Tuffieha and St Andrews.

Mr Joseph Cuschieri (MLP) said he respected the Chair but disagreed with its ruling. How could one be a member of a society and not have a direct interest in it? The Chair, therefore, had to shoulder its responsibilities in the same way as the members of the club who would now be allowed to vote on this motion.

At the end of the debate Dr Attard Montalto also expressed disagreement with the ruling and said he was giving notice of a motion to contest it. He asked the Speaker for a ruling on whether voting on the motion could continue.

The Speaker said voting should proceed.

Dr Attard Montalto said he had also asked MPs to voluntarily declare their interest and withdraw from the vote for ethical purposes.

The Speaker said MPs who wished to declare any interest could do so.

Opposition deputy leader Charles Mangion asked the Speaker if he felt members of the Casino Maltese had a duty to declare they were members. He had already declared his interest, but did not feel he should withdraw from the voting.

The Speaker said it was up to MPs to declare their membership of the casino.

The motion was then approved after a division.

During the debate Labour MP Carmelo Abela, the first speaker yesterday, asked whether the government had considered granting alternative property in Valletta to the Casino Maltese so that the building it currently used could be converted for use by parliament.

Nationalist MP Mario Galea said he felt the Casino Maltese was part of national and parliamentary history. He would never be a member of the club because he did not agree with membership procedures which accepted only persons from certain classes. Nonetheless, he was not against the club. The members of the opposition were saying now that they were against renewing the club's emphyteusis because the ground rent was too low, but no such views were expressed before the election, when members of the opposition were guests for lunch hosted by the club committee.

Indeed, this was yet another opposition U-turn. Would the opposition in future, be against the renewal of the emphyteusis of the GWU building?

Mr Joseph Cuschieri (MLP) said one could hardly compare the role of the GWU with that of a social club such as the Casino Maltese, but the opposition was not against the club or its members. It was only against the ground rent fixed by the government. The government should explain how it decided the figure of Lm3,000.

Criticising Mr Galea, Mr Cuschieri said one could hardly accuse the opposition of political hypocrisy over some lunch when, before the election, the PN said nothing about 900 workers at Malta Drydocks and 150 at PBS being surplus.

Mr Cuschieri said he also wanted to insist that the government should not tolerate unauthorised use of public property and there should be no discrimination in the way enforcement was made.

He also called for professional management of Malta's beaches in view of their importance for tourism, pointing out that competing tourism destinations were making progress in their tourism products.

Winding up, Parliamentary Secretary Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici explained that the Casino Maltese was being given a new 50-year emphyteusis which could not be automatically renewed, as was the case in many other property transfers by the government.

The ground rent of Lm3,000 would gradually rise to reach Lm5,000 by the end of the concession. Furthermore, the concession would no longer include the shops underlying the club, which would henceforth revert to the government. Rents of Lm25,000 paid by those shops to the club were now being transferred to the government.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said the government viewed the Casino Maltese as a social and cultural institution. Indeed, in June last year Dr Sant had also written on the social and cultural activities of the club and Mr Evarist Bartolo in two parliamentary questions called for a renewal of the emphyteusis.

The Casino Maltese was the oldest, or at least one of the oldest clubs in Malta, having been set up some 150 years ago. The current building was formerly a hotel which was demolished and rebuilt as a club, only to be demolished in the war and then rebuilt, mostly at the members' expense.

The club's membership, Dr Mifsud Bonnici insisted, never consisted solely of Nationalists but included members of the Labour and Constitutional Parties.

The government had decided to renew the emphyteusis of the club because it considered it part of Maltese history, whose membership had included many illustrious personalities. The club had also hosted Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1864 and Emperor Hirohito of Japan.

The Casino Maltese was never involved in masonic or fascist activities, as had been claimed in the debate.

The parliamentary secretary defended the PN's record in social housing and said the ground rent of the Casino Maltese had nothing to do with housing.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said Labour MPs, in criticising the government's use of public property, had forgotten how, for example, a Labour government had allowed Bieb Is-Sultan to be converted into a disco.

As for the calls for an alternative building to be given to the Casino Maltese, he felt the current building was best suited for use as a club and it was difficult to find a similar building in Valletta.

As for the valuation of the property, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said the ground rent was not calculated on the basis of the value of the building but served as recognition of a superior title.

He objectively felt that the Casino Maltese served a useful purpose and its emphyteusis should therefore be renewed on the terms proposed by the government.