Nuevo Comisario de Medioambiente, asuntos marítimos y pesquerias.
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- Category: General
- Published on Saturday, 13 September 2014 08:48
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Poco tendrá que hacer el nuevo responsable de los asuntos marítimos europeos para superar la nefasta gestion del equipo saliente, al frente del cual se encontraba , José Manuel Durao Barroso, cuyo mandato no pudo resultar más deplorable para los intereses de la Marina Civil en su conjunto.
Militarismo náutico, tecnoburocracia naval y legislación a golpe de expertos de despacho y membrete han dejado un panorama en el que solo navegan a su gusto las banderas de conveniencia.
Europa ha destrozado sus activos profesionales en Marina Civil.
Ahora toma el relevo un ingeniero naval, banquero, hotelero, que dedicó la mayor parte de su vida a calentar poltrona en el Parlamento de su país (desde 1976) y que no ha pisado en su vida un astillero, y además provinie de Malta, que cuenta con una larga trayectoria como bandera de conveniencia.
Los grupos de poder (lobbys) se reparten la tarta europea y siempre hay un trozo de ella para quienes estan "acreditados" como gestores públicos en esta etapa de turbulencias financieras y desconcierto.
Mal siguen pintando las cosas para la Marina Civil.
Esperamos equivocarnos.
The Guardian
Don't bet on the commissioner: the case of Karmenu Vella of Malta
Karmenu Vella (link is external) is a Maltese politician and the country's nominee to be European commissioner, to be responsible for environment, maritime and fisheries (link is external). He has been a member of the Maltese parliament since 1976, but that hasn't prevented him from also holding a variety of external business roles at the same time including within the gambling industry. CEO now argues that these recent outside interests make him unsuitable to be a commissioner.
According to his own parliamentary website (link is external), in 2001 Karmenu Vella was appointed as executive chairman of Corinthia Hotels International (link is external). In 2009-10 he served as executive chairman of the Mediterranean Construction Co. Ltd and he was also a founding chairman of the Maltese Turkish Business Council.
Before entering politics, Vella was a bank director and an architect and engineer. According to his most recent declaration of interests, Vella retains a 50 per cent share in his old architecture firm and with his wife he co-owns a company called Multi Joint Projects Co Ltd which he has told CEO he uses “in a few property projects”. He has an extensive property portfolio and large bank assets, boosted by recent property sales.
But it is his recent private sector roles which will raise eyebrows most as, between 2007 and 2013, Vella had an extensive relationship with the Betfair group (link is external), acting as “non-executive director on the Betfair Maltese Board” to Betfair Holding (Malta) Limited and Betfair Poker Holdings Limited. He also joined Betfair International Plc on 27 January 2012. Betfair is apparently the world largest internet betting exchange and while it started life as a UK business, its first overseas licence was granted in Malta.
Betfair is not currently in the EU lobby transparency register (link is external) (although it used to be) but according to the most recently available figures, it employed EU lobby firm Weber Shandwick (link is external) in 2013 creating €50,000-€100,000 turnover for the lobby firm.
For several years, Vella was also chairman of the Orange Travel Group (link is external) which is a merger of Maltese travel firms Mondial and SMS Travel. OTG encompasses a number of subsidiaries and associate outbound travel companies, is present in eight countries, and specialises in cruise trips and outbound travel to Malta and elsewhere.
Vella left the OTG on 13 March 2013 which was the same date that he was appointed as… Maltese minister for tourism, a role that he had previously held in 1996-98. He left his Betfair roles on 13 April 2013.
Tourism accounts for 14 (link is external) per cent of (link is external)Malta's (link is external)GDP (link is external) and perhaps as many as 30 per cent (link is external) of the Maltese population is directly employed in this sector. Meanwhile, gaming is said to account for 10 per cent of Malta's GDP (link is external). In CEO's view, it is pretty shocking that an MP was able to maintain such outside interests whilst apparently not breaking any rules; even more shocking when this MP was then appointed as minister for tourism.
Vella has told CEO that he had no links with either Betfair or the Orange Travel Group during his time as minister for tourism in 2013-14 and he has denied any conflicts of interest saying:
“My Chairmanship with Orange Travel Group and Directorship with Betfair were before my being appointed Minister for Tourism and none of these companies had or have any business related to government.”
In CEO's view, it is inappropriate to nominate as a European commissioner a serving politician who has had such recent links to big business. As a very minimum we hope that MEPs who will shortly grill him on his appointment will seek the following commitments from Vella: a commitment to have no professional or private contacts with any of the companies with which he has been involved and / or their lobby representatives, and a promise to refuse all professional and private contacts with the gambling and tourism industries.