The construction compulsion

The protest by the Gozo mayors (February 23) against the siege of construction going on all over the island is indeed commendable.

The mayors’ call is a breakthrough in its unanimity, although it came late in the day since Gozo reached its saturation point years ago, especially if we truly believed in its eco identity.

For the sake of Gozo, we need more such actions, which transcend the persistent and suffocating political divide.

Architecture has always been a hallmark, to a large or some extent, of self-aggrandisement for both dictatorial and democratic leaders with an eye to posterity. In the latter category, former president Francois Mitterand, with his bacchanalia of grands projets, and ex-prime minister Tony Blair, with his enthusiasm for the Dome, come to mind… and here, at home, Lawrence Gonzi, with a Parliament House on stilts adorning the entrance of the capital, Valletta – which does serve its purpose well – and a roofless theatre – which does not.

Will Robert Abela be remembered by Gozitans for a multitude of high-rise horrors?

Joseph Psaila – Victoria

Catalan members’ immunity in European Parliament

A protestor waves Catalonia's flag during a gathering in front of the European Union Commission, in Brussels. Photo: John Thys/AFP

At the request of the Spanish Supreme Court, on February 23, the Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament approved three reports recommending to waive our parliamentary immunity. These reports will now be voted in next week’s plenary session.

The vote will be a secret ballot and it probably will be the first time that the six Maltese MEPs will be able to express their opinion on what’s been going over the last few years.

The request to lift our immunities forms part of an ongoing effort by the Spanish courts to end any political activity on our part and to imprison us.

They have tried it once and again, on all fronts, and for six months, the Spanish electoral commission even blocked us from becoming MEPs despite us getting a million votes. If we sit in the European Parliament, it is because the ECJ intervened.

All this judicial persecution with political motives obviously stems from the organisation of a referendum on the independence of Catalonia in 2017.

This is why, as former president and ministers of the Catalan government now in exile, one of our aims is to explain to the international community that political problems must be solved politically not by jailing rivals. Jail is what our former government colleagues still in Spain are already suffering (they were condemned for up to 13 years) and what the hierarchy of Spanish judges and prosecutors want for us as well.

Lifting our immunity could send the signal that the persecution of politicians for their ideas and political actions is acceptable.

That would be a very bad precedent for European democracy.

That is why protecting our immunity in the European Parliament is not only protecting fundamental rights but also protecting our most fundamental values, values we are sure we share with the Maltese people with whom Catalonia also shares part of its historical heritage.

Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó, MEP, 130th president of Catalonia, Toni Comín i Oliveres, MEP, former Catalan minister of health and Clara Ponsatí Obiols, MEP, former Catalan education minister – Brussels

Letters to the editor should be sent to editor@timesofmalta.com. Please include your full name, address and ID card number. The editor may disclose personal information to any person or entity seeking legal action on the basis of a published letter.