Shameful resolution

At the time when Moneyval was about to vote regarding Malta’s reforms on money laundering and the rule of law and the European Court of Justice was about to also decide a case instituted by Manwel Delia’s Repubblika, filed by PN lawyers Jason Azzopardi, Karol Aquilina and Therese Comodini Cachia, against the judicial appointments in Malta, PN MEPs David Casa and Roberta Metsola, together with EPP general secretary, Simon Busuttil, were pushing hard for a debate and vote in the European parliament on a resolution against Malta proposed by the EPP.

That shameful EPP resolution was passed by over 600 MEPs voting in its favour while just over 40 voting against and 12 abstained, if I remember correctly. The Labour MEPs stood up for Malta and voted against; the Nationalist MEPs voted in favour.

I will let Evarist Bartolo, our foreign minister, define the shamefulness of this resolution and of those who voted for it.

On April 30, he posted a comment expressing his utter disgust in this way: “There are people who are pleased at the senseless resolution against Malta that was pushed by the PN in the European parliament, rather than at Malta passing the Moneyval test, which safeguards thousands of Maltese jobs.”

He further accused PN MEPs Casa and Metsola of plotting the resolution. I would certainly add Busuttil, who, in his capacity as secretary general of the EPP, has more influence on EPP members.

Bartolo continued saying that “the European parliament was pushed by the PN’s MEPs to turn judge, jury and executioner on Malta. They pick on us, a small nation, because they would never turn on the larger states even when they are guilty of far greater shortcomings, especially those with governments led by the PN’s political family, the EPP”.

He defined the speeches as “senseless and without any decency in recognising the steps we had taken to strengthen our law courts and police in the safeguard of the rule of law”.

Our foreign minister, who is renowned for calling a spade a spade, ended his comment thus: “The PN tried to trip us up in a bid to fail the Moneyval test but it’s all egg on their face. They and their European parliament for their lies and cant, the ‘Sound and fury signifying nothing’ (quote from  Shakespeare’s Macbeth).”

Prosit Varist!

Eddy Privitera – Mosta

Beyond the horizon

Photo: Daniel Cilia

It is not unusual to have a glimpse of Etna (Times of Malta online, May 19) or the Sicilian coastline from the Maltese islands. These are sporadic events which depend on the density of the atmosphere.

The density varies with temperature, which is not uniform through all the air layers. When light travels through layers with different densities, it changes direction and is said to be refracted. One such consequence of this is the twinkling of stars.

When light travels over the sea, the colder layers next to the surface refract the light rays downwards, depending on the right temperature differences across the layers of the atmosphere, with the result that distant objects become visible. This is called looming.

The opposite of this is the mirage seen over the desert. The air layers next to the ground are hotter than the upper layers and the air is rarefied, with the result that the light rays are refracted upwards. An observer would think that water is in the vicinity when, in fact, it is an image of the sky which is being seen.

In Malta, this process can be noticed when driving along a straight and level road during summer. Due to the heat absorbed by the tarmac, the ground further away looks shimmering.

Emanuel Aquilina – Birżebbuġa

For truth seekers

For those who consider themselves truth seekers, I would humbly offer them a reflection by the Russian philosopher and theologian Pavel Florensky (1882-1943):

“I do not know whether there is truth or not. But I instinctively feel that I cannot be without It. And I know that if It is, then It is everything for me: reason, and good, and strength, and life, and happiness. Perhaps It is not; but I love It – love is more than everything that exists. I already count It as existing and I love It – though perhaps non-existent – with all my soul and all my thinking and dreaming. I renounce everything for It – even my questions and my doubts”.

Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap – Marsa

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