Malta’s election cost €8.5 million; including €1.9 million in flights

Jun 28 2022

An election report moved in parliament on Monday revealed that the Electoral Commission spent €6.6 million on the March general election and another €1.9 million on subsidies on flights for overseas voters.

1,952 voters benefitted from subsidies on flight tickets provided by Air Malta, with the low cost flights amounting to €90. 53% of voters came from London, 23% from Brussels and the other 24% where dispersed amongst countries where Air Malta operates.

The bulk of the expenses came from the remuneration of personnel hired for election-related purposes, with assistant electoral commissioners and election staff costing €1.5 million while temporary services such as disciplinary forces cost €1.9 million.

Electoral Offices employee recruitment cost €192,000 while utilities and maintenance amounted to a total of €896,000.

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Metsola says Malta’s Parliament has power to change after Cutajar ‘Fejn Kont?’ comment

Jun 28 2022

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola has issued a reply to Labour Party MP Rosianne Cutajar after the latter criticised Metsola for addressing the Roe v Wade decision & not the Andrea Prudente case which took place locally.

After Metsola tweeted her solidarity with US woman following the Roe v Wade ruling, Cutajar asked where she was a day earlier when “an American woman risked dying in Malta because our laws are so restrictive that they don’t even allow abortion for medical purposes…”

The regression of women’s rights in the US, and in other places around the globe, is a worrying trend.

The @Europarl_EN will keep standing up for women, equality and liberty.

— Roberta Metsola (@EP_President) June 25, 2022

Cutajar’s calls of hypocrisy prompted a reply from the EP President, who stated that while she does not wish to enter any sort of back and forth with Ms. Cutajar, would point out that it is the Maltese Parliament which she sits in and the Party which governs and she forms part of that has the legislative power to change.

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) was a U.S. Supreme Court decision by which the Court ruled the the United States Constitution generally protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose to have an abortion. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court voted to strike down the decision, with the Supreme Court stating that “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”

In Malta, Andrea Prudente and partner Jay Weeldreyer have decided to sue the Maltese government after being denied their request for termination of a non-viable pregnancy, having to be airlifted to Spain.

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Four men fined €33,000 after filming sexual activity with 16-year-old girl in garage

Jun 28 2022

The Court of Appeal has ordered four men to pay around €33,000 in damages to a 32-year-old woman after causing psychological trauma when filming her in a sexual relationship with one of the men in a Luqa garage.

The woman had filed a civil case against the man calling for compensation for the trauma suffered, with the sexual act distributed via DVD in DVD shops and even sent anonymously to the victim’s mother.

The Court of Appeal ruled that the two other men were equally responsible for the footage’s traumatic effects on the woman, with a court-appointed group of experts establishing that the case caused a 6% permanent disability, as opposed to the originally established 30%.

The ruling stated that all men involved caused trauma without denial of connection between their actions and the victim’s suffering. Thus, they were ordered to pay €32,656 in compensation for the victim’s personal damage.

What do you make of this?

#MaltaDaily

Couple denied abortion planning to take legal action against Maltese government

Jun 28 2022

The US couple who was denied their request for termination of a non-viable pregnancy whilst in Malta plan to sue the Maltese government for their “heartbreaking ordeal”.

45-year-old Jay Weeldreyer, partner of 38-year-old Andrea Prudente told Times of Malta that once they are home, they will take any action available against Malta. “This was… inhumane and we want to do what we can to prevent it ever happening again. We intend to sue.”

After being denied their request in Malta, Prudente had to be airlifted to Spain to terminate her pregnancy in a Spanish hospital.

Following the events, a group of 135 doctors signed and put forward a judicial protest calling for the reconsideration of the blanket ban on abortion in Malta.

Malta remains the only EU country with a complete ban on abortion.

#MaltaDaily