Louis Galea showed interest in Court of Auditors position - PM

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi revealed this morning that the Speaker of the House, Louis Galea, had himself shown an interest in becoming Malta's nominee to the European Court of Auditors.

Speaking at a PN activity in Gozo this morning, Dr Gonzi said he viewed Dr Galea as one of the best suited persons to represent Malta on the Court, because of his vast ministerial experience. The role of the court is to monitor the spending of the European Union.

Dr Gonzi said that the nomination would be formally submitted tomorrow, and acceptance procedures would continue until May when Dr Galea would step down from Parliament to succeed Prof Josef Bonnici on the court.

Dr Gonzi praised Prof Bonnici for his service to the court. He said that Prof Bonnici had helped pilot a review of procedures in the court, which led to an improvement of relations between the court and the European Commission.

AGREEMENT BEING SOUGHT ON LIMITED SPRING HUNTING

Asked about a story in today's Sunday Times, Dr Gonzi confirmed that the government is considering having a limited season for hunting in spring, and said the issue now was on how limited it would be.

He explained that even before it joined the EU, Malta had insisted that it had a right to apply a derogation to allow Spring hunting. After accession, the government stuck to its promise and hunting was allowed in Spring. That eventually led to procedures before the European Court.

The court had declared that Malta had exceptional circumstances which would permit limited spring hunting.

The issue now, was about how limited the season would be.

Dr Gonzi said the governemnt did not wish to see the country becoming embroiled in a new controversy and it was therefore seeking an agreed position with the European Commission in the interests of the courntry and as discussed in the accession talks.

THE BUS SERVICE

On the bus service, Dr Gonzi said the government had long promised that if it had to issue a tender for the operation of the bus service, the bus owners would be compensated. The needs of these people could not be ignored. They had spent their money and energy on the buses and once something was taken away from them, they had to be compensated in a way that was fair to them and to the taxpayers.

Dr Gonzi insisted that the compensation was based on the market values of the licences and the buses.

Had nothing been done, he explained, Malta would have continued to be saddled with the subsidy to the bus service which grew as the service deteriorated. This year it was €7 million. By next year the total outlay would have been €30 million, with no return. Was this was the people wanted?

On the contrary, he said, the government was working to introduce a new bus service which met the people's needs.