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UK Defence Secretary lands in Malta for meetings with PM Lawrence Gonzi
UPDATED | British Defence Secretary of State Liam Fox has met with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.
12 March 2011, 12:00am
Karl Stagno-Navarra
Karl Stagno-Navarra
1 min read
Fox, who arrived by private jet – similar to the one which was in Malta last weekend while the UK special forces and an MI6 officer were held captive in Benghazi by anti-Gaddafi rebels – met the Prime Minister and thanked Malta and the Maltese for their support during the evacuation of British nationals from Libya.
While speaking to reporters, Prime Minister Gonzi stressed that the Gaddafi-led government had lost its legitimacy.
Gonzi said the Libyan people were only calling for their fundamental freedoms and they should have been heeded. “Change, cannot not be stopped.” He appealed to the international community for its help in various ways to bring about the prospected change in Libya.
Malta, he said was backing a call for a summit between the EU, the Arab League and the African Union, whose importance was to bring about pressure on the Libyan authorities.
The Prime Minister stressed the importance of Malta’s neutrality in the eventuality of military intervention to impose a ‘no-fly’ zone over Libya.
Meanwhile, during a reception held on board the HMS Cumberland on Friday evening, Liam Fox paid tribute to the Maltese for their support to Britain during the evacuation process of its citizens from Libya.
Later, Fox was also hosted to a dinner in his honour given by British High Commissioner to Malta Louise Stanton.
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L-Gvern Taljan u anka il Gvern Tork ghamlu task force sabiex jattrataw turisti li mhux sejrin L-Egittu jew Tunez minhabba l-inkwiet. Tiftakru li Hawn Malta Dr Muscat kien issugerixxa l-istess haga u il PN hargu battak kontrih u pruvaw jkissruh ghax qalu li mghandux qalb etc L-Ipokrezija Politika hawn Malta.
Albert Zammit •
Kemm sar ghandna ekonomisti dan l-ahhar!!!
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p.s.
This is apart from eurozone countries being able to have a say on other eurozone countries economic policies.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12711183
"A pact would give members a say over each other's major economic policies - a move aimed at keeping countries under firm fiscal discipline...."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12709315
Furthermore, eurozoen countries have to commit themselves to introduce certain requirements in their domestic law so that they will have to observe them. These include wages, tax and pensions including that retirement age increases automatically with increased life expectancy and other matters.
Further info at
http://euobserver.com/9/31978
Greece wins eurozone concessions, Ireland rebuffed
http://euobserver.com/9/31977
Sarkozy and Kenny draw swords as eurozone agrees pact
This is what we are dealing with in the EU.
http://euobserver.com/9/31975
Merkel salutes Portugal's 'remarkable' cuts to health, welfare
http://euobserver.com/9/31971
This WEEK in the European Union (on a pan-european corporate tax-system)
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Fumarole not only that, but the Prime Ministers during yesterday's EU summit including our prime Minister have agreed that:
the full €400 Billion from the stability fund may be paid to those countries who would not be able to get loans on the international market;
have agreed to buy the bonds issued by those countries facing bankruptcy;
have reduced Greece's interest rates that had already been agreed when it was given loans including by us Maltese taxpayers to save it from being declared bankrupt and which funds I am sure we are never going to get back and have extended the time for payback from Greece to 7 years.
Apart from all this, after Greece there was Ireland which was followed by Portugal which was finding it difficult to borrow on the international market, while yesterday or the day before we also got to know through the international media that Spain was also in dire straits.
I am certain that other EU states are in the same situation and will want to borrow from the stability fund to which our Prime Minister had agreed, funded and guaranteed, obviously, through our taxes.
So sooner or later, and I believe that it will be sooner rather than later, we are going to be asked to put our money where the Prime Minister's mouth is and not only to pay the guaranteed €400 million which our Prime Minister so generously guaranteed to the stability fund, but also to be asked (read ordered) to increase those €400 million so that we will be giving our share as decided by the EU for the stability fund.
This is the situation that we are facing and which is going to verify itself in the not too distant future.
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It is worthwhile remembering that tiny Malta, since joining the EU, has been forced to pay GREAT BRITAIN an annual sum of 5million ewro, thanks to Mrs Margaret Thatcher's insistence on being refunded some of the money Britain was " overpaying " as a contribution towards the EU budget. In time, unless changes are made by the mighty bigheads in Brussels, Germany, France and Britain, the British Government will have recouped all the money they paid as rent for their base in Malta until they left !!!. What a ride.
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No one is denying that Gaddafi is not a tyrant, but he was a tyrant only last month and the powerful people of Europe rushed to kiss his hand. They jumped the queue to meet him, and now demand from us that we thaw there line. If Gaddafi become a goodie again, we are supposed to follow suite! Its a pity that "qalbhom mhix perzuta" for the ivory Coast, or for Zimbabwe. I suppose there is no balck gold there!
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More likely to convey more orders on what we may or may not do.
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ROBIN HUUD good observation. Perhaps they prefer the personal touch. I hope that she did not come here to try to persuade the Prime Minister to allow Malta to be used as a military base or military operations centre in case of military operations against Libya.
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Yes sure. I suppose due to expenditure cuts, telecommunication costs have been cut as well. Pull the other one!!!!
