Does EP have executive power?

Reports of alleged significant corruption, receipt of “gifts” and fiddling of expenses by MEPs reminded me of the Westminster MP who accepted a weekend’s holiday in Paris from a foreigner lobbying for British nationality and of another UK MP who had claimed his home duck pond construction costs as parliamentary expenses.

They both got prison terms. I trust MEPs won’t consider themselves “above the law”.But is the European Parliament subject to any “law” and is it perhaps little more than an expensive “talking shop” with no executive power – like our presidency?

ALBERT CILIA VINCENTI – Attard

Road fatalities and serious accidents

Sadly, our roads are slowly, but surely, becoming some of the most dangerous in Europe. Not a day goes by without there being news about a fatality or serious injuries sustained by drivers, passengers or, now increasingly, by pedestrians.

Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

The reasons are many, however, the main ones are obvious, glaringly obvious, to everyone.

Firstly, why is the breathalyser not being used, especially now during the festive season?

Secondly, what about law enforcement? Where are the traffic police and wardens? Do they actually exist in these islands? I’m absolutely shocked as to the number of drivers who are using their mobile phones  while driving.

Thirdly, another factor, which all previous governments have conveniently ignored, is the state of most of the pavements on our islands.

Consequently, many pedestrians have no other option but to walk on the road, risking being hit by a vehicle  rather than risk breaking their ankle or hip by a fall on the pavement.

My dear late aunt, Laura did so many moons ago, in our capital city Valletta, which is a world heritage site.

I finish off by stating that my late father, Commendatore Alfred Bencini, former commissioner of police in the 1980s, always stated that one of the biggest deterrents against crime was to show the presence of policemen or policewomen in the area concerned.

Yet again, I as: where are they?

RAYMOND BENCINI – Żebbuġ

On the right track

What better and more authoritative medical arguments can there be against the currently-being-processed law favouring the introduction of abortion in Malta than the clear article written by experienced pathologist James Degaetano (December 21)?

Renouncing to hard-headedness even late in the day can also be a mark of either statesmanship or even political nous.

JOHN CONSIGLIO – Birkirkara