Benito M

There is a difficult question at the heart of domestic violence proceedings: when a complainant asks for a case to be dropped, should the justice system simply close the file and move on? The case involving Nazzareno Dalli, whose pregnant…

Trump is real. We checked. We have reached a remarkable point in Maltese politics where the Office of the Prime Minister has had to officially confirm that Robert Abela was photographed with the actual Donald Trump – and not a…

There is a wonderful trick in corporate finance: sometimes you don’t make the liability disappear. You simply change where you look for it. D Shopping Mall has now been sold to Agora Estates, which plans to rebrand the shopping centre.…

There is nothing particularly objectionable about the Leader of the Opposition having an office in Valletta. In fact, there is a perfectly good argument for it. The leader of a parliamentary opposition should be close to Parliament, government departments, civil…

There is something slightly peculiar about the Finance Minister telling Malta’s employers that they are responsible for the country’s dependence on foreign workers. Clyde Caruana’s argument is straightforward. Businesses have consistently chosen labour over more expensive capital investment. Labour may…

There is something rather reassuring about a government in which the Finance Minister asks to see the numbers before spending €2.8 billion. There is something considerably less reassuring about discovering that the Transport Minister has apparently already announced the project.…

There is something uncomfortable about €400 million becoming the new normal. Finance Minister Clyde Caruana says Malta will continue subsidising energy prices, with the bill expected to hit around €400 million this year and again next year. Over the past…

There is little doubt that Malta’s energy subsidies have served a purpose. When energy prices surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, shielding households and businesses from the full shock was a defensible policy. Nobody seriously expects the government to sit…

Robert Abela has once again ruled out creating a specific criminal offence for mafia-style association, saying that such a law would suggest that Malta is a mafia state. The proposal was one of the recommendations of the Daphne Caruana Galizia…

There are some things a government is entitled to keep confidential. Commercial negotiations are one of them. National security is another. Sensitive personal information, obviously, is another. But the financial performance of a company owned by the state is not…

There is nothing wrong with an Opposition being constructive. In fact, Malta could probably do with rather less political theatre and rather more serious parliamentary work. But there is a distinction between constructive opposition and an opposition that waits for…