Prime Minister’s €25,000 libel suit against magazine risks falling through

A libel suit filed by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and rural affairs minister George Pullicino against the directors of the political magazine New Europe risks falling through, after a Belgian court ruled it was not the competent court to settle the matter.

Gonzi and Pullicino filed their lawsuit back in July 2012 over comments reported in an interview carried in New Europe, with Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Paul Watson.

In their headline story, 'Malta's PM Gonzi and Minister Pullicino file suit against New Europe', the magazine explained said Gonzi and Pullicino were asking for €25,000 each in damages from Court of First Instance of Brussels for the interview carried in February 2012.

A new ruling is expected to see how the case will proceed.

New Europe director Alexander Koronakis has defended his decision to carry the interview, saying that neither Gonzi's nor Pullicino's names were mentioned.

Koronakis says a letter from Pullicino sent to the magazine on 30 April through a law firm never reached their headquarters. The director also took issue with the fact that the letter was not delivered through the Maltese embassy in Brussels.

"Following what seemed to be measures which do not comply to standard press relations for a European country the Maltese government did not use the tools present in Brussels on its behalf to try to contact the newspaper and make its discomfort with the article in question known, instead it used a letter which was never delivered, and a very general email address to forward on its claim, which only reached our spam files," Koronakis said.

Additionally, in preparing for its defence and counter-suit, the magazine produced a fische d'infraction and the mise en demure letter for an infringement notice issued by the European Commission on delays by Malta to submit Bluefin tuna data back in September 2007.

Malta replied to the letter of formal notice of 30 November 2007 "recognising the failures mentioned by the Commission."

Under then European Commissioner for fisheries Joe Borg, a former Maltese minister, Malta was served with an infringement notice for: not communicating mandatory data as a an ICCAT party, vessel information, and catch reports on a five-day basis and monthly catch reports.

MaltaToday is not informed as to the underlying causes of this infringement notice.

But in 2007, this newspaper was threatened with a garnishee order by members of the tuna fishing industry, after MaltaToday ran a series of reports pinpointing a discrepancy of over 6 million kg between international trade report figures, and an estimate of how much tuna could physically be exported from Malta over the same period.

In a nutshell, according to Japan's official statistical declarations to ICCAT (the international tuna conservation authority), as well the Japanese government's own official import records, Malta would have exported to Japan nearly 12 million kg of bluefin tuna between June 2007 and March 2008.

But an industry intelligence report published by consultants ATRT (Advanced Tuna Ranching Technologies) suggested that the total stock of live bluefin tuna present in Malta's fish-farms at the time - and therefore available for export - could not have been more than 4.8 million kg.

It is not being suggested that proof exists of this link between the export declarations and the European Commission infringement notice.

In a scathing attack on the libel suit, Koronakis said that Gonzi and Pullicino claimed they were not contacted for their opinion before the interview with Watson was published. "We publish in a free and democratic country, Belgium, and we never follow such practice," the magazine said.

It added that Gonzi and Pullicino have been asked directly and through their Permanent Representation of Malta to the EU in Brussels to comment on the Commission's documents, which contradict the statements of Pullicino, but it has not received any replies yet.

In the interview published in New Europe, Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson was quoted as saying: "what is happening in Malta is that there is a whole illegal enterprise going on there with the full support of the politicians who are being bribed by these tuna fishermen."

Watson delivered a scathing judgement of Malta's political class, claiming the Bluefin tuna industry has been lining MPs' pockets to sanction their allegedly illegal fishing trade.

Watson - who has led expeditions in the Mediterranean to scupper Maltese tuna ranches - referred to the Maltese tuna industry as a "whole illegal enterprise" that has the full support of the politicians "who are being bribed by these tuna fishermen".

Watson said overfishing of bluefin tuna was making the industry richer by driving prices up as the species is driven closer to extinction, but that the EU, and Malta, were doing little to enforce conservation laws.

"The EU has all the rules and regulations that protect our oceans, however, what they do not have is enforcement. We have a lack of will on the part of governments to enforce international conservation law. They need to get out there and arrest the bastards.

"But, they are doing this because too much money is passing hands under the table going to many politicians in Europe, just like in Malta; there is no question that Maltese politicians are on the take."