Toon This week: Hello!

The Presidential rebuke highlights the tension that exists between President Guido Demarco and Prime Minister. To miss the sparks that flow between the two men would be tantamount to missing the wood for the trees.

Profs Guido Demarco is a respectable fellow who cannot fathom that he has been sidelined and exiled to a more or less symbolic role.

However correct the interpretation of issues pertaining to justice and the constitution, his work should not serve to dampen the efforts of the government he was appointed to serve.

The Prime Minister, perhaps too late in the day, is taking a far closer look at the choice of public officials.

When finally the right choices are being made; enter the Commission on the administration of Justice with a rejection note.

The Prime Minister is not one who takes denials or refusals lying down.

Yet, in his vision he is particularly worried about any incident that will mar the campaign for Europe. This spark from the Presidential palace underlines that some people never give up and never forgive. Profs Guido Demarco remains irked that his role as broker as negotiator in this historic moment has been sidelined.

It may be an unfortunate moment for him but not one of great misfortune for Malta. For in these important months, the difficult road ahead in the negotiation process has been handled with ample dexterity and efficiency by Joe Borg the new face to the foreign policy. A politician who buried pomp and fanfani styled politics to realpolitik and some much needed technocracy.

Forward looking with MIA shares

The German government is going to sell its shares in the Hamburg and Cologne- Bonn airports. This resolution was passed by the cabinet. Transportation Minister Wissmann also wants to sell the shares in the Frankfurt, Munich, and Berlin airports. Wissmann said the sale should not only increase federal revenues but also improve the competitiveness of German airports on the international market.

On Saturday, John Dalli announced the same for MIA in Gudja.

It has been some time, since the Maltese public has had the opportunity to participate in the purchase of reasonably solid shares. The MIA in the absence of outright war or a series of September 11 scenarios is a long-term investment worth the tag.

The story of MIA is a success story all throughout. It is undoubtedly a feather in the cap for this government. The airport was inaugurated in 1992 replacing the colonial hangar at Luqa. At one point it served as a Sunday treat for the public.

With every increasing tourism and the use of the airport as a maintenance centre for some top airlines such as Lufthansa, MIA grew. MIA can grow more.

Then two years ago, the Finance Minister John Dalli announced that MIA would be semi privatised. At 40% no one would have imagined that there would be contenders. But there were and some of them, the losers remained bitter till the very end, some of them crying foul at the selection process,

Two established and respectable firms have now moved in. Their impetus lies in making profits with innovative projects at MIA.

The public will be part-owner at MIA and the government will continue to retain a minority,

Maltese flavour mixed with foreign expertise and drive will be retained. And better still, the Maltese investor will gain (or lose) in this national airport, which looks to the future in a market that can only expand and diversify with Malta’s entry into the European Union.