Go Slow Sweet Charabanc

One reason I knew that the European Union would be the right way for the Republic (of Malta of course) was that it would provide the necessary pressure for our lax governments to take decisions that are long overdue. Disappointment began to set in with the derogations that our governments so bravely "obtained" for our people. Hunting is one obvious area which "springs" to mind. We also found ways to deter the free movement of persons by punishing our citizens for planning any holiday other than a trip to Gozo.

Competition law and the free market are deeply intertwined with the law of the European Union in order that the consumer (read citizen) reaps maximum benefit. The liberalisation of markets, when done efficiently can be beneficial to the citizen and can provide that efficiency we lack.

The EU is planning a new directive to liberalise public transport. In order to put transport providers on their toes and hopefully give a better service to consumers, the EU Commission is suggesting a directive that would oblige member states to issue competitive contracts for public transport every eight years. Now. Stop to think for two seconds. What do you think the Malta government's gut reaction to this proposal would be?

"Malta is resisting an EU proposal intended to liberalise the provision of public transport services and has put forward amendments in order to keep the possibility of granting the provision of the bus service directly to the Public Transport Association."

(...)

Mr Mugliett said that although the government is in favour of having a contract every eight years between the Malta Transport Authority and the Public Transport Association, regulating the level of public service to be given, the government still wishes to keep the option open of granting such contract by direct order.

Asked to specify why the government is taking this stand instead of opting for a total liberalisation of the service, Mr Mugliett said the government has invested millions of liri over the past years so that bus owners improve their services and buy new buses.

"We invested all these taxes so that the service improves. We still think the Public Transport Association can give a good service and we want to leave the door open for this to happen."
Mr Mugliett said that in the prevailing circumstances, the government is lobbying the EU to be more flexible in its exceptions and is suggesting an increase in the thresholds of the value of the network to €3 million. If this were to be accepted the government could still issue a contract by direct order to the present operators."

What is so special about this bloody island of ours? How will we get away once again with convincing the EU that our citizens merit being considered as second class citizens? Can Jesmond Mugliett really think that we are so stupid? How does he think that he can convince us that because he has been flushing money down the PTA drain all this time then it is too late to change this habit of putting OUR money to waste while he is chauffeur driven all over the island to spurt out such circum tauri?

For heaven's sake. Are "we the people" so bloody ignorant? I'd love to be able to say that they are taking us for a ride.

... but in fact they aren't.

...their pompous brains and shit-spouting arses are so commingled that they can't even get a bloody decent transport system on an island 316 kilometres squared to work.

Nota bene: The management would like to apologise for the quality of language used in this post. The nature of the news and the absurdity of certain statements have made us see red. Normal operations will be resumed as soon as possible.