20November2008
Posted by Robert G. Coenen under: Archive Publications.
Lampuka Can’t FlyAnybody who believes the economic recession won’t come to Malta probably also believes Lampuka can fly, but like Lampuka, recession grows bigger and uglier. Economists say to forget any economic growth in 2009 and probably most of 2010 too.When the recession hits the real economy in the coming months, people will think twice about booking a flight to Malta; taking a cruise on the Mediterranean Sea or sending kids to language schools in Malta.So it is time to create an “economic war cabinet” with short term objectives for long term investment, in order to kick start the economy before it comes to a halt.
Stop the phantom-economy of inflating house prices and real estate bubble, stop throwing money in the dry docks black hole; you won’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs.
Malta should stop thinking in period of 4 years; we have to invest in the long term future. We need a country management which has a vision and is able to make bold and daring decisions.
We don’t need another “mother of all hospitals” project. We need infrastructural projects which are spread around Malta and Gozo. We need to create Long Term Infrastructure Projects which have lasting impact on all sectors of the economy.
We need projects of state-of-the-art construction and engineering; projects which are environment friendly and technological feasible.
Freedom Square and the Opera House could become such projects, but it would be better to invest in education rather than parliamentary mammoth projects.
Exploring geothermal energy is such a technology (but not the only one), which could put Malta on the map again.
Don’t waste time and energy on commissions and studies. Competent and scientific interpretation of the existing information on previous drilling in Gozo and around Malta will provide realistic geothermal data and then we will have to accept that sometimes progress is made by the proven scientific system of trial and error.
Ten or more small geothermal plants around Malta and Gozo would do.
Another such a project could be creation of large caverns to stop wasting of rainwater and setting up a sustainable irrigation system. There are more projects to think of than there are pages in this newspaper.
European Union Projects Funds and Grants are available for Malta at low interest rates! Malta should use this opportunity to profit from those low interest rates and take bold decisions with a vision for the future.
Malta should use these low interest rates to start big economic stimulus now, before lethargy and recession sets in.
We know state regulation doesn’t create jobs, but anti-cyclical investing in projects does. Malta’s government should re-instate respect and trust in economic development.
Malta’s economic velocity should not loose momentum with political nitty gritty. Malta needs to be bold and have vision.
Lampuka can’t fly, but vision can!
12November2008
Posted by Robert G. Coenen under: Archive Publications.
With reference to Resources Minister George Pullicino’s action plan to focus attention on energy efficiency, with the intention to use wind mills as well as solar panels, a reliable and renewable source of environmental friendly energy seems to be ignored.
Geothermal energy has been produced commercially for some 70 years and is used in 46 countries worldwide. In France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Hungary, it is a relatively common practice.
The EU R&D project at Soultz-sous-Forêts, France, has recently connected its 1.5 MW geothermal energy plant to the electrical grid. Delft, Holland - the town of 17th century painter Jan Vermeer - is drilling a five-kilometre hole to provide its 100,000 people with geothermal energy.
Geothermal energy is a well-understood and simple system. It is provided by using the heat below the outer layer of the earth’s crust and produced by drilling a bore-hole where thermal activity is occurring. Once thermal activity has been identified, cold water is pumped below the surface at “hot spots” where the earth’s crust is thinner and hot (150°C to 200°C) and water coming out of the hole is turned into steam .
The steam is used to turn turbines and generate electricity. Hot spots are found all over the world. They are a very efficient and clean resource of energy. Usually the water is injected back into the ground to resupply the geothermal source.
Malta would be ideal as volcanic activity and geothermal hot water is found in Algeria and Tunisia.
Solar energy is not a reliable source - in contrast with geothermal energy - as it isn’t available on a 24/7 basis. It is rather manpower intensive as cleaning and maintenance of the panels would be influenced by dust and salt. The same goes for wind energy. Geothermal energy is available round the clock all year round and is (almost) infinite.
By considering the continuous energy current of the geothermal energy, it is natural to classify it as a renewable energy source. The energy current is also responsible for the heat stored in the bedrock. If heat is removed from the rocks, the energy current will replace the heat removed.
In the volcanic and geothermal zones, where mass transportation is the main energy transportation process, the recharge is taking place on the same time frame as the utilisation process. When the utilisation at certain locations is less than the natural energy current at that place, the energy production will not affect the natural condition of the geothermal energy system. Such energy production will be sustainable for infinite time.
Geothermal energy creates less environmental pollution, is renewable and sustainable, avoids the importation of energy resources, adds to energy source diversity, creates less waste disposal and has a long lifespan. Last, but not least, after initial investment, it is almost free to run.
It would be worthwhile to consider a geothermal energy project for Malta.
Robert G. Coenen
15September2008
Posted by Robert G. Coenen under: Archive Publications.
Roman Herzog former President of Germany and former judge at the German Federal Constitutional Court and Lüder Gerken stated in an interview published in German on September 08, 2008 by F.A.Z (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung):“Judicial decision-making in Europe is in deep trouble. The reason is to be found in the European Court of Justice (ECJ), whose justifications for depriving Member States of their very own fundamental competences and interfering heavily in their legal systems are becoming increasingly astonishing. In so doing,it has squandered away a large part of the trust it used to enjoy.”Stop the European Court!”
As a member of the “deprived” citizens of the EU; “stop the ECJ” sounds to me like “shoot the messenger bringing the bad news”.
It also sounds a bit totalitarian.
My personal experience with the ECJ dates back from 1975 (ECJ 39/1975) and would classify any interference with the ECJ decisions and as “political injustice”.
The simple fact that citizens can apply to the ECJ and have their national courts being scrutinized by international judges is an important preventive tool to limit “national political injustice”.
If the ECJ comes to the conclusion that “”national political injustice” has been applied, it automatically follows national courts not to be very happy with this scrutiny.
However “peer review” is always acceptable to wise and never to stubborn members of the judicial system.
Robert G. Coenen PhD
14August2008
Posted by Robert G. Coenen under: Archive Publications.
Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono examines plans for two berths for cruise liners at Xlendi bay yesterday.
Mepa has issued permits for two berths for cruise liners at a buoy off Xlendi, Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono said during a visit to the coastal village yesterday.
Mrs Debono said the cruise liner business has become an integral part of the tourism industry from which Gozo could benefit.
The laying of a buoy for cruise liners has been on the cards since 2006, when the Seabourne Pride anchored off Xlendi. Although a small number of other ships followed, their masters had complained that engines could not be switched off because the ships dragged anchor.
The minister also spoke of how the number of persons using Gozo Channel services was on the increase. According to National Statistics Office data, a total of 1.8 million passengers and 497,552 cars used the service in the first six months of this year, which amounts to 133,000 passengers and 33,000 cars more than in the same period last year.
Specific marketing schemes and measures, among which was the 25 per cent reduction in licence fees for Gozitan tourist establishments and other schemes aimed to attract the domestic market, have all borne fruit, she said.
Accommodation statistics show that during 2007 the Gozitan touristic market experienced a global increase of 15.5 per cent of tourists who spent a night or more on Gozo. This comprised a 10.8 per cent increase in tourists from the domestic market and an encouraging 19.7 per cent increase in foreign tourists.
Cruise liners a source of air pollution
Maybe the Gozitans and Mepa could learn from Venice:
Summer is coming and big cruise liners are devastating the Venice lagoon creating a health hazard for residents.
The passage of these ships through the lagoon damages Venice’s health, its environment and monumental heritage; these giants are totally out of proportion in regard to the city and its ecosystem.
Ships are also a source of air pollution caused by the use of fuels which have been outlawed by the European Union. Nitric and sulphuric anhydrides and soot are released in enormous quantity from the funnels that, unlike the exhaust pipes of land vehicles, are lacking in any system to filter the fumes.
Those particular fumes from the ships come from engines burning heavy oil: All this to maintain the “industry of passengers” (around 3,000 in some single cruisers), collected by smaller engined boats and moved on these polluting means of transport. Big cruise liners are going to compromise the life and cultural heritage of Venice and the profits from this traffic induce the local people to own more and more pleasure boats with more and more powerful engines…
Robert G. Coenen PhD
8July2008
Posted by Robert G. Coenen under: Archive Publications.
In his statement “Referendum vs. Parliamentary Vote (THE TIMES 25JUN08)”, MEP Simon Busuttil tried to explain his view about “We elect our representatives to our national Parliament and we trust them to decide for us.”
Well, this assumes the freedom of the representative to vote in the interest of the voters who did elect him/her, doesn’t it?
Dr Busuttil argues this with a penalty: “If they decide wrongly, they pay the ultimate price.”
Fortunately for those colleagues of Dr Busuttil the ultimate price has not been paid in Western Europe during the last one hundred years.
Although guillotines have been available, they have not been used on political representatives.
Even the symbolic price of getting re-elected or not is not based on the individual political representative’s moral obligation and behaviour to vote in the interest of the voters who did elect him/her. The Political Law of Survival is based on the survival of the party not the individual.
Proof of this can be found in recent voting for or against the EU Constitutional Treaty of Lisbon. In most countries in which ratification by parliament had been practised (Dr. Busuttil’s favored method) ratification had been done with overwhelming majorities not reflecting the actual division of the people’s opinion on the Lisbon Treaty.
In some countries the absurdity of ratification by parliament or by referendum of the Constitution in 2005 created the Fool’s Vote. In Luxemburg, where voting is obligatory, people went to the polls and 56% said “yes”. They all knew it was a fool’s vote. Whatever the outcome: the EU constitution on which they voted “yes” “no” or “blank” was dead.
In Malta the charade was paraded in parliament which ratified the Constitution’s cadaver.
Whatever the absurdity of the exercise, it showed: France, the Netherlands, Spain and Luxembourg, that different majorities of people would vote in case they would have gotten the chance to do so.
The same goes for Irish referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon: although all or almost all political parties’ opinion supported a “yes”, the actual outcome of the referendum does not reflect the political representation it should have.
This allows the conclusion that the dictum written by Dr Busuttil “We elect our representatives to our national Parliament and we trust them to decide for us.” might not be true at all.
In one-party-political governments like Malta, the UK or other Anglo-Saxon systems the first and all overshadowing aim of the elected politician and his party is to stay in power as long as possible. This dictum is never to be traded for any vote on behalf of the electors. (The same goes for coalitions in the other political systems).
Political parties are and will ever be cartels in which the law of supply and demand is regulated by promises and “IOUs”.
Thus Dr Busuttil puts it: “the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty was justifiably left in the hands of our national parliamentarians to decide. Indeed, they voted unanimously to approve it.”
Which confirms the dualistic conflict of interest national parliamentarians face: vote to raise your voice on behalf of the people or on behalf of the party!
Seldom has the Law of Survival of the Party been breached in the interest of the people. Most political parties demand bloc voting on behalf of the survival of the political party’s stay in power.
It is fair to assume a certain percentage of the voters to be in favor and another percentage of the voters to be against the Lisbon Treaty.
The parliamentary result of unanimously thus cannot reflect the opinion of the people of Malta.
The party’s interest in the Treaty of Lisbon is a further dilution of the sovereignty of nations, for the simple truth is: The Sovereign is the People! Representative parliamentary systems live in constant fear of the Sovereign, as they could vote parties (and not the individual) out of power.
In a direct democracy this dictum “The Sovereign is the People” creates a symbiosis between parliament and the sovereign. The result is based on “in dubio pro populo” on a regular basis, just to make sure that politicians are still in synchronization with their voters’ opinion.
They don’t have to fear the people as direct democracy demands consensus and compromise.
Consequently the referenda in direct democracy – because of their regularity – reflect the opinion related to the topic of the referendum and not a vote for or against the parties in power.
Trust in politicians in Western Europe is almost non-existent and has been severely undermined by the ignorant behaviour of many political parties, ministers, prime ministers or presidents.
The obsession of Maltese (and other) politicians with “gain or loss of another seat in the EU commission or the EU parliament reflects their loss of interest in the welfare of the people they should represent.
Malta’s size in Europe doesn’t reflect its present power of veto, but authorizing the sale of this only instrument in exchange for another seat in the EU parliament is a bad deal and should have been prevented.
Robert G. Coenen PhD
