EU rules replace ordinary legislation

The government intends to propose a law providing that EU laws and regulations that Malta has taken part in creating will become part of Maltese law and replace other laws, the Minister of Home Affairs and Justice Tonio Borg told parliament yesterday.

He was responding to questions from Labor MP Anglu Farrugia on Tuesday about how the government would guarantee judicial sovereignty once Malta joined the EU. The comments were made during the debate on the motion to thank the President for his speech at the opening of Parliament.

Dr Borg stated that Malta would henceforth play a role in drafting EU legislation and it would therefore be prudent for Malta to comply with such laws and regulations.

Accordingly, a Maltese law would be passed providing that EU laws that Malta had a hand in creating would become part of Maltese law and would override ordinary Maltese law, but not the constitution.

The minister spoke at the last of three meetings during which the motion to thank the President for his speech at the opening of parliament on Saturday was discussed.

Nationalist MP Mario Galea later suggested in a speech that the parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee should be called the “Committee on Europe and Foreign Affairs”, with one of its roles being to vet proposed EU legislation. In justified cases, the committee may also take the initiative to organize public hearings.

It is clear that the House of Representatives needs to be strengthened to cope with the increased workload that EU membership brings.

Galea said that following opposition leader Alfred Sant’s speech at the Convention on the Future of Europe, where the opposition’s position was similar to that of the government, he expressed hope that Malta would now have a national policy on foreign affairs.

Dr Jason Azzopardi (PN) said Dr Santa’s speech could be seen as an indication that the positions of both sides of the Maltese Parliament on the EU were aligned. Indeed, as the Archbishop said on Saturday during Holy Mass. Spirit, both sides had to act as one nation.

In his view, EU membership will also lead to a quantum leap in the quality of Maltese politics and parliamentary debate, Dr Azzopardi said. He hoped this would even extend to EU affairs because that was what the people wanted, “not because they loved Caesar less, but because they loved Rome more.”

Dr Azzopardi in his speech called for the strengthening of the civil society committee at the Malta Economic and Social Development Board and for the opening of more regional complexes such as Access in Vittoriosa where social services could be centralized.

Labor MP Joseph Cuschieri, who voted on Tuesday, expressed his solidarity with Graffiti members who, in his opinion, were attacked last Saturday by people close to the Nationalist Party for protesting against the presence of warships in the Grand Harbour.

He said Labor had accepted the people’s verdict in favor of EU membership.

This was not the case with the nationalist opposition in 1996, when the people gave Labor a clear mandate for a close relationship with the non-membership EU.

Respecting the people’s decision at the last election, Labor would be keen to ensure that the PN’s promises are implemented.

The government now had to achieve EU standards without expecting the low and middle classes to pay for it.

It is also time for the government to say how it intends to control the deficit and address or complete various infrastructure projects, especially City Gate.

Parliament Secretary Dolores Cristina said the government would work to ensure greater social inclusion.

When mainstreaming policies began to be implemented, there was initial resistance, but now some maturity has been achieved and the concept is accepted.

The Parliamentary Secretary congratulated the Richmond Foundation on its 10th anniversary, praising it for its work on behalf of the nation.

Ms Cristina said the number of people with disabilities registering for employment is not falling as significantly as it should for the country to be able to say that people with disabilities are exercising their rights.

Returning to the topic of domestic violence, she said the government remained committed to legislating in this area. Other legislation included legislation relating to social work professions.

She said much progress had been made, but policymakers had to take into account the vulnerability of some members of society, such as troubled families, victims of drugs, alcohol and usury.

The services provided were good, but service providers should not be bound by bureaucracy.

It was also necessary to ensure that the resources were fully utilized by all those who really needed them.

In the housing sector, although much work had been done, policy rethinking and reorganization, as well as conversations with the opposition and others, were necessary to ensure services reached those who needed them.

Ms Helen D’Amato (PN) said MCAST was doing an outstanding job and giving hope to hundreds of students.

In the area of ​​national vocational qualifications, MCAST should aim to reach those students who have achieved specific academic qualifications but have had to go out to work. There were also many employees who had to change jobs, but whose qualifications were based solely on experience and not on paper.

MCAST should work on these aspects together with the ETC and other bodies.

The President mentioned the difficult situation of people suffering from mental problems. It is good that this situation was identified because such people needed to be helped to integrate into society. The Richmond Foundation has done a lot in this direction, but credit also goes to those who worked, including: at Mount Carmel Hospital.

Unfortunately, people with mental health problems continued to be largely eliminated from society.

There should be day centers for people with such problems, respite care centers for their loved ones and crisis intervention arrangements, rather than immediate admission to Mount Carmel Hospital as this could be counterproductive.

Current regulations needed to be revised to encourage people with mental health problems to work, possibly introducing special arrangements for paying social security contributions.

There should be greater awareness of these issues in Malta, but unfortunately the research data used in Malta came from overseas sources, with virtually no statistics available on the situation in Malta itself.