CorporateDispatch Pro - Edition 19

Corporate DispatchPro

Issue No.19 | April 2021

Corporate DispatchPro The Journal of CI Group

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Issue No.19 | April 2021

Corporate DispatchPro The Journal of CI Group

EDITORIAL TEAM Managing Editor - Jesmond Saliba Editor – Nathanael Muscat

CONTENTS

CONTRIBUTORS Antony Currie Ed Cropley Keith Zahra Liam Ward-Proud

One hundred and counting

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Vaccination of the fittest

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The first Biden season

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Crossing the Brexit minefield

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Malta Insights

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Malta News Roundup

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David Casa pledges to continue to fight ‘those defrauding Malta’

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‘Green Deal should keep in mind island’s challenges in transport and connectivity’

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PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Laura Grima Shirley Zammit DESIGN TEAM Matthew Borg Nicholas Azzopardi

Inside looking out

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April in pictures

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Communiqeu 47 Toshiba CEO exit gives better governance a chance

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French water fight ends in honourable $15 billion draw

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Credit Suisse bonus cuts are a necessary gamble

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SOURCES

Published By

ADDITIONAL SOURCES

Design Produced

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Corporate DispatchPro Cover Story

Inside looking out Prince Philip did not have any constitutional position in the Palace, but his sheer strength of character has transformed the monarchy like no one else. With the exception of his wife, the Queen.

The Duke of Edinburgh was a famously reluctant consort, but his loyalty and service to the Royal Family was unyielding. By the time he retired from official public life, aged 96, he had represented Britain in more than 22,000 solo engagements.

His reputation ranges from witty and affable to stern and downright racist. In the hit series The Crown, Prince Charles is portrayed as a harsh, frigid father who has trouble accepting a supporting role to Queen Elizabeth.

The world he was born into placed him in the line of succession to the Greek throne. But his destiny was summarily disrupted when his father was banished from Greece following a coup d’état in 1922.

Aged just one, baby Philip will not have had any memories of the scramble out of Corfu aboard a British warship.

His educational journey started in France before his family moved to Surrey in England when the prince was seven. He was later sent to a boarding school in Germany led by Kurt Hahn, but the pioneering educator of Jewish origin fled to Scotland amid rising persecution by the Nazi. Philip followed him to Gordonstoun, which instilled in him the hardy, self-reliant nature he was later to become known for.

To a man without a land to truly call home, a young Philip was enamoured of the seas. He became a cadet at the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, where he met Elizabeth, then a teenage princess, for the first time.

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Corporate DispatchPro The Duke of Edinburgh showed an impatience with ceremonial pomp and circumstance, even while he was on official duty on behalf of the Royal Family. His frequent gaffes have filled books and, as time went by, they have come to be seen less as outlandish comments and more as deep-seated prejudice.

Philip’s stars seemed to finally align in the post-war years when, freshly married to the love of his life, he was appointed to the command of the HMS Magpie in 1950.

That was all to change less than a year later, when King George VI died, and Princess Elizabeth ascended to the throne. Forced to adapt to life as a royal consort, Philip devoted his energies and skills to set up the Duke of Edinburgh Award, promoting community service, entrepreneurship, physical activity, and leadership among young people.

He was a staunch advocate for environmental care and wildlife preservation long before it was fashionably mainstream, and was appointed the first president of the World Wide Fund for Nature.

The Duke of Edinburgh showed an impatience with ceremonial pomp and circumstance, even while he was on official duty on behalf of the Royal Family. His frequent gaffes have filled books and, as time went by, they have come to be seen less as outlandish comments and more as deep-seated prejudice.

Prince Philip died just two months short of his 100th birthday. He lived a remarkable life in a remarkable century of rapid changes.

He is equally praised for helping the Royal Family adapt to social transformations and criticised for being out of touch.

The Duke of Edinburgh often cut a solitary figure, a man at the right time but in the wrong place. But as long as the world continues its relentless march away from notions of exclusion, history will likely look with sympathy towards a prince who seemed to be on the inside, looking out.

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BREXIT REALITY ONLY HITTING NOW, EU’S BARNIER SAYS The European Union’s former Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said that the reality of Britain’s decision to leave the bloc was only now being felt, years after the British 2016 referendum on membership.

RYANAIR BOEING 737-800 INVOLVED IN INCIDENT AT MALTA’S AIRPORT A Ryanair Boeing 737-800 registered 9H-QCJ was involved in an incident earlier while the aircraft was being towed on Apron 1 at the Malta International Airport.

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Corporate DispatchPro FLIRTING WITH DRUGS, DANCING WITH THE DEVIL – DEMI LOVATO RECREATES HER DRUG OVERDOSE EXPERIENCE IN POWERFUL VIDEO Demi Lovato dropped the music video for her newest single, Dancing With the Devil, which features a harrowing recreation of the events of her drug overdose.

EGYPT HOLDS GRAND PARADE TO TRANSFER MUMMIES TO NEW MUSEUM A convoy transported 18 ancient Egyptian kings and four queens from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square across the capital city to their new resting place at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat, in what is called The Pharaohs’ Golden Parade.

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KENYA’S CHEPNGETICH BREAKS HALF MARATHON RECORD IN ISTANBUL Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich smashed the world half marathon record, clocking a time of 1 hour, 04 minutes and 02 seconds at the N Kolay Istanbul Half Marathon to shave 29 seconds off the old mark.

LG BECOMES FIRST MAJOR SMARTPHONE BRAND TO WITHDRAW FROM MARKET South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc will wind down its loss-making mobile division after failing to find a buyer, a move that is set to make it the first major smartphone brand to completely withdraw from the market.

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Corporate DispatchPro ETNA HAS CALMED DOWN SAY VOLCANOLOGISTS Etna has calmed down after a recent series of spectacular eruptions from Europe’s tallest active volcano, volcanologists in Catania said.

THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH, PRINCE PHILIP, HAS DIED A statement from Buckingham Palace said: “It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle.”

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LOOSER EU STATE AID RULES FOR LESS DEVELOPED REGIONS TO MEET GREEN, DIGITAL GOALS EU state aid regulators on Monday eased rules to allow EU countries grant more state aid to help less developed regions across the 27-country bloc achieve green and digital goals aimed at spurring economic growth.

NASA’S INGENUITY HELICOPTER MAKES FIRST HISTORIC FLIGHT ON MARS NASA’s miniature robot helicopter Ingenuity performed a successful takeoff and landing on Mars, achieving the first powered, controlled flight by an aircraft over the surface of another planet, the U.S. space agency said.

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Corporate DispatchPro ISRAELI STUDY SAYS SOUTH AFRICAN VARIANT MAY EVADE PROTECTION FROM PFIZER VACCINE The coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa may evade the protection provided by Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine to some extent, a real-world data study in Israel found, though its prevalence in the country is very low and the research has not been peer reviewed.

SUEZ CANAL BLOCKAGE The six-day blockage of the Suez Canal by a megaship named Ever Given came to an end six days after the start of an operation by salvage teams who dredging and tug boats to heave the vessel back into operation.

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Corporate DispatchPro Editorial

One hundred & counting This year started on the doorstep of change. Historic developments towards the end of 2020 meant that events that had become part of our lives, whether for one year, like the coronavirus pandemic, four years, like the Trump administration, or 47 years, like Britain’s EU membership, were coming to an end.

These three unrelated changes looked set to fundamentally alter world affairs for better or for worse, but it is safe to say that most people were happy to move on from 2020. Three in four respondents in a global study by Ipsos said they expected the new year to be better for them with only Japan registering a share of optimism below 50 per cent of its population.

As 2021 hit its hundredth day, countries are slowly administering Covid-19 vaccines and reopening their economies; Joe Biden has virtually appointed a full Cabinet and is stamping his authority on Washington D.C.; businesses across the English Channel have found ways to trade while Brussels and London engage in diplomatic cooperation.

But not everything has been on the up and up. January began with a home-grown violent assault on the American Congress that shook the democratic foundations of the nation and elsewhere.

Myanmar’s military turned the country into a bloodbath right when the promise of institutional transformation seemed within touching distance. Global supply chains, already stretched thin, suffered another blow when a mega containership ran aground in the Suez Canal. Cyclone Seroja killed scores of people in Indonesia and East Timor and devastated entire towns in Western Australia.

Tensions keep rising in the Donbas region after Russia deployed thousands of troops to the border with Ukraine.

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A quarter certainly does not make a year, but the hundred-day milestone, popularised by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, has become shorthand for a general analysis of an evolving situation.

Change, however, is a fluid motion of multiple factors as they find new equilibrium.

Going by that yardstick, events this year have indeed justified some of the optimism that dawned with the beginning of 2021. A hundred days later, and despite the undesirable developments that have come to pass, hope for a better year is not only warranted but necessary.

JESMOND SALIBA 15

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Vaccination of the fittest By mid-April, countries around the world administered almost 900 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines. Just a year earlier, confirmed cases of the new disease had risen to one million globally. The rapid vaccination programme is an incredible achievement, reaching roughly twelve per cent of the worldwide population.

But a closer look at figures reveals a glaring disparity between richer and poorer economies. More than eight in every ten jabs have been administered in high- and upper-middle-income nations, while most low-income countries have not even started their vaccination processes.

To date, eleven vaccines are being used by different governments, with those developed by Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and OxfordAstraZeneca emerging as the most popular. At the beginning of the year, things looked like they were going according to plan. That did not last long.

While countries compete for doses and threaten each other with halting of material supplies, medical issues traced to the jabs are raising levels of vaccine scepticism among citizens.

European nations have fallen behind the UK and the US in their vaccination campaigns as member states vent frustration with an EU testing and procurement process that was meant to facilitate distribution. The European Commission has publicly rebuked AstraZeneca for failing to honour its supply commitments after the company slashed its deliveries by half and effectively pulling the brakes on vaccination in the bloc.

The pharmaceutical giant came under intense scrutiny following reports linking its vaccine to cases of cerebral blood clots. National 17

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YOUR PURPOSE IS YOUR BIGGEST ASSET

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Corporate DispatchPro health authorities went their independent ways, some suspending the roll-out altogether, some excluding entire cohorts of the populations, and others steaming ahead with their original plans.

The chaos opened the floodgates to a deluge of misinformation.

The blood-clot panic spread to Moderna and Pfizer, too. In a separate incident, the latter walked into a heated dispute with the leaders of the world’s most successful vaccination programme: Israel. The American company withheld a shipment of filled vials, accusing the country of failing to pay for a previous order of 2.5 million doses. Opposition leaders in the country, meanwhile, allege that the government has paid higher prices for Pfizer vaccines than other countries.

Moderna also cut deliveries to the US, Canada, and the UK, practically half its market in terms of size, as issues continue to crop up along the supply chain. The company’s Swiss-based manufacturing partner is struggling to keep up with production capacity while pressure on its Massachusetts plant is piling following the halting of Johnson and Johnson vaccines by US states.

Populations can ill-afford delays, but lower-income countries have much less room for manoeuvre than richer economies. In March, the World Health Organisation informed nations participating in the Covax project that consignments of doses had to be postponed.

It was forced to issue a similar notification in April.

The UN-backed project is now asking high-income nations to donate millions of doses to compensate for the critical shortfall.

World leaders have frequently repeated the mantra that no country is safe until every country is safe, but in such a volatile environment, governments probably fear their constituents more than the virus.

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The first Biden season These days, far fewer headlines quote the American president than the world had gotten used to in the last four years. To no one’s surprise, Joe Biden has kept a low key on the national media stage compared with his predecessor Donal Trump. So much so that he attracted criticism for leaving it up to his 67th day in office to hold a press conference.

Biden’s first quarter in the White House has been characterised by a ballast of executive orders ranging from a requirement to wear facemask in federal buildings to ending the use of private prisons by the Justice Department, and from imposing sanctions on members of the Myanmar military to reviewing the supply chains for semiconductors.

In between singing new executive orders, the 46th President was busy repealing others introduced by the 45th. He interrupted America’s withdrawal from the World Health Organisation, rejoined the Paris Agreement, lifted the ban on travellers from Muslimmajority countries, and ended harsh immigration enforcement.

Biden made the fight against the coronavirus his top – some argue his only – campaign issue. As President, he quickly created the role of Covid-19 Response Coordinator, entrusting Jeffrey Zients with containing the virus and managing vaccine distribution. Biden’s inaugural address promise of administering 100 million doses of vaccine within his first three months was roundly seen as an easy goal, and halfway through the timeline, he announced to raise the stakes and target 200 million jabs.

His most robust response to the problems of the pandemic was the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, a huge handout sending citizens cheques of up to $1,400, extending an unemployment insurance supplement, and widening child tax credits.

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Corporate DispatchPro “He assured NATO allies that he will not rush the withdrawal process, but he vowed that America’s “forever war” will end before his term.”

The vast majority of Americans were in favour of the package, but Democrats in the House and Senate had to squeeze the legislation through Congress without the support of Republicans, who questioned the economic soundness of the bill.

Unfazed by lack of bipartisan backing, Biden unveiled another $2 trillion spending plan the following month. This time, he was pouring investment in infrastructure, although the President appears to adopt a loose understanding of the term. Besides funds to rebuild roads, bridges, and airports, the eight-year package reserves $400 billion for elderly care, $300 billion for broadband connectivity, and $100 billion for training opportunities.

A firm believer in global alliances, Biden’s first steps in foreign policy show him pushing to re-establishing America’s role as the world leader. His decision not to punish Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Bin Salman over the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi may have been based on long-term strategic interests, but he did not close the file before letting it be known to the world that the US believes the Crown Prince was involved in the killing.

This month, the Commander-in-Chief announced that he will be pulling US troops out of Afghanistan by September 11. He assured NATO allies that he will not rush the withdrawal process, but he vowed that America’s “forever war” will end before his term.

On the campaign trail, Biden frequently brought up the relationship with Russia, denouncing the cushioned approach adopted by Trump. The Biden administration imposed a set of sanctions on Russian individuals in March, and the second round in April after investigations into the SolarWinds cyber-attack pointed fingers towards Moscow. The two Presidents are exploring an opportunity to meet in person in the summer, but the warm weather is unlikely to thaw the frosty relationship.

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Crossing the Brexit minefield As spray paint sprawls across public walls and store shutters in Belfast, pronouncing the death of the Good Friday Agreement, the worst fears of the Brexit pact are coming back to haunt decision-makers in London and Brussels.

Worrying images of burning buses, destructive riots and police shootings in Londonderry, Carrickfergus, and other settlements are fast becoming the undesired posters of post-Brexit Northern Ireland. Young people from Unionist communities born long after the end of The Troubles have been hurling insults as well as petrol bombs at authorities almost every night for over two weeks.

Tensions have been simmering since June last year after thousands of people breached Covid-19 rules to attend the funeral of a former IRA leader. But the UK-EU Deal proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Wary of raising a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, the UK government and the European Union agreed to draw a border in the Irish Sea, effectively cutting the island from Great Britain and plunging Belfast into a nightmare isolationist scenario, as far as loyalists are concerned.

NI leaders are calling on the British government to review the agreement and negotiate a more satisfactory outcome with the EU. Meanwhile, calls for a revision of the pact are also coming from the business community in the UK. The British Chambers of Commerce expressed serious concern about the negative effects trade barriers are having on UK exporters.

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Corporate DispatchPro Trade with Europe took a huge blow in January but bounced back the following month as businesses on both sides started to come to terms with the new requirements and paperwork. Investors, however, are anxious about the long-term implications of the arrangement which could decrease trade in both directions by as much as 15 per cent, according to some economic forecasts.

Formal talks between the UK and the EU are not expected to restart any time soon. Leaders on both sides are primarily preoccupied with the Covid-19 outbreak in their own countries, and the spasmodic nature of the process that produced the current agreement on Christmas Eve may leave little appetite to reopen discussions in the short term.

The first months of the new EU-UK relationship have been largely inconvenient but manageable. Unrest in Northern Ireland and unease among businesses, however, suggest that the 2020 Trade and Cooperation Agreement may only be the first volume in a series of future arrangements.

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AVERAGE COMMUTE TAKES 26 MINUTES A third of people in employment in 2019 spent between 15 minutes and half an hour travelling from home to work, excluding and other detours. Data by the European Labour Force Survey and published by the National Statistics Office, shows that the average commute in Malta took 26 minutes, as 23 percent of workers reported a time range of under 15 minutes per journey and another 23 percent said it took them between 30 minutes to 45 minutes.

Commutes by workers residing in Gozo and the South Eastern region took 29 minutes on average, seven minutes longer than the average of those from the Norther Harbour region. Employees residing in the Southern Harbour region took 27 minutes per commute on average, while home-to-work trips by people from the Western and Northern regions clocked an average of 26 minutes.

The longest commutes were experienced by residents of Gozo travelling to the Northern Harbour, averaging 79 minutes per trip.

No data was available for commutes in the opposite direction, but workers from the Northern Harbour region travelling to the Northern region spent 30 minutes per trip.

The shortest commute outside the area of residence was from the Southern Harbour region to the South Eastern region, at 22 minutes per trip. These workers spent the same time travelling if the place of work was in the same region.

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Eight in every ten commuters travelled by private while nine percent caught a bus or minivan. A tenth of employees made the journey to work on foot.

DIGITAL TRANSACTIONS INCREASE IN 2020 Mobile payments, buying local, and online grocery shopping increased heavily last year, according to a survey published by the Malta Communications Authority. The research detected a 2 per cent increase in internet usage in 2020, when compared to the previous survey in 2016. According to the study, 82 per cent of internet users access the internet on their smartphones whereas 74 per cent do so on their laptop or PC. Less than half of the internet users reach for a tablet to access the internet.

This is a significant change from a few years back, when just 59 per cent of internet users carried out internet-related activities on their smartphones. Nowadays, most consumers are constantly connected and use multiple devices interchangeably. An interesting trend seems to be emerging amongst those aged between 18 and 54, as these intensify their smartphone use in conducting internet banking and effecting payments.

THREE IN TEN INACTIVE WOMEN CHOOSE PERSONAL LIFE Just under 32 percent of inactive women in the final quarter of last year said they were not working or looking for a job because of personal or family responsibilities. Data published by the National Statistics Office shows that there were 100,295 inactive women between October and December 2020.

The number of inactive men stood at slightly over 64,700, with more than 46,000 (71.1%) having either reached retirement or taken early retirement. Buy contrast, the share of women who were inactive for retirement reasons was 24.5 percent.

A third of women cited other reasons for inactivity while 10.2 percent said they were in education or training. Men in education or training accounted for 18.5 percent while less than eight percent cited other reasons. bThe total number of inactive women and men was 165,008 for the period under survey, an increase of 343 from the same quarter in 2019. Inactive persons in the over 65 age 30

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Corporate DispatchPro group accounted for 52.5 percent in 2020, up from 51 percent the year before. The age bracket with the lowest rate of inactivity was the 45-54 range (4.7%) followed by 25-35 age bracket (4.9%).

HOUSE PRICES UP BY 2.5 PERCENT IN LAST QUARTER OF 2020 House prices in Malta rose by 2.5 percent from the third to the fourth quarter 2020, almost double the average increase registered in the EU. The House Price Index released by Eurostat shows that Malta had the seventh highest quarter-on-quarter expansion in the final three months last year.

The highest increases were recorded in in Cyprus and Luxembourg (both +4.7%), Lithuania (+3.9%) and Estonia (+3.8%). Spain and Hungary were the only member states to register decreases at 0.8 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

Compared with the fourth quarter 2019, house prices in Malta grew by 1.7 percent, an increase below the average 5.7 percent experienced in the EU as a whole. Prices in Luxembourg jumped by 16.7 percent year-on-year, the highest among the 27 member states, while rises in Denmark (+9.8%) and Lithuania (+9.4%) completed the highest three on the index.

No EU country registered a decrease from Q4 2019, but prices rose least in Ireland (+0.6%) and Italy (+1.6%).

PUBLIC DEFICIT EDGES PAST 10 PER CENT OF GDP The government registered a €1.3 billion deficit in 2020, equivalent to 10.1 per cent of GDP. The General Government debt amounted to €6,960.0 million or 54.3 per cent of GDP. The balance is calculated as the difference between total revenue (€4,677.8 million) and expenditure (€5,977.9 million) of General Government. When comparing 2020 to 2019, total revenue decreased by €378.1 million, while total expenditure increased by €972.1 million.

The fiscal results for 2020 were largely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent government measures to mitigate the economic, social and health risks associated with the pandemic.

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Corporate DispatchPro NINE STUDENTS FOR EVERY TEACHER IN SCHOOLS The overall ratio between teachers and the student population stood at 9.2 in the academic year 2018-2019. Data by the National Statistics Office shows that the ratio was lowest in state schools with 8.3 students per teacher. It rose to 11.2 in church schools and 12.4 in private schools.

The total number of teachers and academic staff was 9,317, an increase of 2.0 percent from the preceding year. Slightly over a quarter of these were engaged in upper secondary and post-secondary education while 22 percent worked in primary education. Nearly 2,000 teachers taught at lower secondary levels and 876 were engaged in pre-primary education. Academic staff at tertiary institutions numbered 1,958.

Almost 3,000 teachers and academic staff were in the 30-39 age group, the largest cohort, followed by the 40-49 bracket numbering 2,389 professionals. Slightly less than 2,000 were under 29 years while staff aged between 50 and 59 numbered 1,464. A further 520 were 60 and over.

Non-teaching staff increased by 1.8 percent in 2018-2019 to 8,121. Maintenance personnel made 650 of this group, the largest category followed by teacher aides (597) and school level management (338). Administrative personnel decreased by 17 percent year-on-year, counting 192 by the end of the 2019 academic year.

Further reductions were observed in pedagogical support workers, down from 79 to 73, and health and social support staff, from 44 to 41.

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Malta News ROUNDUP Parliament voted in favour of Constitutional amendments to widen the participation of women in the Chamber. The reform introduces a requirement of 40 per cent minimum representation of either gender in parliament in the next legislatures.

Investigations revealed that a secretive company called Macbridge is owned by Chen Cheng, a Chinese negotiator involved in multimillion projects by Enemalta. Macbridge was listed as a target client by offshore companies owned by Minister Konrad Mizzi and chief of staff Keith Schembri.

Malta presented a five-year state aid financing plan for Air Malta to the European Commission. Meanwhile the government has transferred the national carrier’s brand name to IP Holding, a public company, for €21 million.

The Nationalist Party suffered an attack on its IT systems, with hackers threatening to publish stolen data unless their demands for payment are met. Party sources said that stolen information posted on the dark web seems genuine.

The government is planning to allow restaurants to re-open by midMay, but not dates have been set for bars and band clubs. Health authorities prefer to open restaurants first and see whether this will have any impact on coronavirus cases before reopening bars.

The Cabinet rejected a pardon request by the alleged hitmen in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder, who requested immunity in exchange for information on major crimes. In a statement, the 35

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government said it took the advice of the attorney general and the police commissioner.

The number of final deeds of sale relating to residential property amounted to 1,229 in March, with a total value of €259.3 million. The figures represent a 32.9 per cent increase compared with the same period in 2020.

Almost 100 NGOs called on the government to retract new Legal Notices that regulate public fundraising activities with immediate effect. In a joint statement, they criticised the introduction of ‘impractical’ regulations that do not reflect the realities of the voluntary sector.

Deputy Attorney General Philip Galea Farrugia told the court that murder suspect Yorgen Fenech requested an urgent flight by private jet and tried to transfer money from his Dubai company on the eve of his arrest in 2019.

Public Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci confirmed two instances of blood-clotting in vaccinated patients but said that the cases are not related to the inoculation. Nearly 70 percent of administered vaccines were from Pfizer-BioNTech and 28 percent were AstraZeneca doses.

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David Casa pledges to continue to fight ‘those defrauding Malta’ MEP David Casa has pledged to continue the fight against those defrauding the people of Malta and Gozo.

“It has never been more important to ensure that the European Parliament is on the side of the people of Malta and Gozo,” he told this publication. “I hold discussions on a regular basis with my counterparts to explain all developments happening in Malta, and the need for independent institutions which work irrelevant of whom the allegations are against,” Casa added.

Casa has also worked to have the European Parliament launch The Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism, which will start being awarded annually as from October this year. Maltese journalists will be eligible to take part in this competition. The €20,000 annual prize will be awarded as of October 2021 to journalists or teams of journalists based in the European Union. Candidates and the eventual laureate will be chosen by an independent panel.

“The Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize will recognise the essential role that journalists play in preserving our democracies and serve as a reminder to citizens of the importance of a free press. This prize is designed to help journalists in the vital and often dangerous work they do and show that the European Parliament supports investigative journalists,” said Parliament Vice-President Heidi Hautala.

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Casa is currently working on more priorities within the European Parliament as Quaestor and as MEP, including the €90 billion European Social Fund Plus for the next seven years.

“The negotiations were intense, and sometimes difficult, due to the huge challenges that all Europeans are facing because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, I am pleased that a deal has been reached, and am now looking forward to have the funds being formally approved by the European Parliament,” he said.

“A huge number of Maltese and Gozitans can benefit from this fund, namely employees to improve their working skills, those looking for a job, members of NGOs who want to do studies in their area, local councillors who could organise a number of courses for their residents, etc,” he added.

This article is part of a content series called Ewropej. This is a multi-newsroom initiative part-funded by the European Parliament to bring the work of the EP closer to the citizens of Malta and keep them informed about matters that affect their daily lives. This article reflects only the author’s view. The European Parliament is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

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‘Green Deal should keep in mind island’s challenges in transport and connectivity’ The European Green Deal should go hand in hand with measures that reduce the gap regions face in transport and connectivity, MEP Josianne Cutajar said.

The role islands can play to fight climate change should not make us forget that these areas face a crucial challenge in terms of transport and connectivity, she told CDPro. “European islands are at the forefront in the fight against climate change. Sustainability matters and global warming will affect us more than other areas,” Cutajar added. “We can support environmental priorities through Cohesion Policy that can help regions address the green transition while unleashing the unique potential of every territory.”

The European Parliament approved a report on Cohesion Policy and environmental policies earlier this month. The report called for enhanced cooperation among EU regions and more support to outermost regions and islands.

The Parliament argued that cohesion policy is the biggest and most important EU investment tool. With an approved budget of over €330 billion for 2021-2027, the cohesion policy can play a crucial role in helping the EU to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 and fulfil the Paris agreement.

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Corporate DispatchPro Parliament recalled that at least 30 percent of both cohesion and regional development funds have to be spent on green projects in the current programming period. It demanded that all investments apply the “do no significant harm” principle.

Regional plans in countries like Malta should focus on risk prevention, energy transition to renewable sources, biodiversity, and climate adaptation, and support civic engagement and locally owned projects.

Moreover, MEPs demanded an “effective methodology” for monitoring the progress of national governments and local and regional authorities in addressing climate change using a common standard for all.

This article is part of a content series called Ewropej. This is a multi-newsroom initiative part-funded by the European Parliament to bring the work of the EP closer to the citizens of Malta and keep them informed about matters that affect their daily lives. This article reflects only the author’s view. The European Parliament is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

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Corporate DispatchPro KEITH ZAHRA

TECHNOLOGY

Vega: The first world-class supercomputer in the EU The European Commission together with the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking has launched the operation of the Vega Supercomputer in Maribor, Slovenia. This marks the launch of the first EU supercomputer procured jointly with EU and Member State funds, with a joint investment of €17.2 million.

The new Vega supercomputer is capable of 6.9 Petaflops of computer power and will support the development of applications in many domains, such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and highperformance data analytics. It will help European researchers and industry to make significant advances in bio-engineering, weather forecasting, the fight against climate change, personalised medicine, as well as in the discovery of new materials and drugs that will benefit EU citizens.

The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking pools European and national resources to procure and deploy world-class supercomputers and technologies.

In addition to Vega in Slovenia, EuroHPC supercomputers have been acquired and are being installed in the following centres: Sofia Tech Park in Bulgaria, IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center in Czechia, CINECA in Italy, LuxProvide in Luxembourg, Minho Advanced Computing Center in Portugal, and CSC – IT Center for Science in Finland.

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Corporate DispatchPro KEITH ZAHRA

HUMANITARIAN AID

EU launches €100 million fund to support vaccination in Africa The EU has formally launched a €100 million humanitarian initiative in support of the COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in Africa. As announced by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at the G7 meeting in February 2021, this €100 million initiative is part of the European Commission’s efforts to ensure equitable and fair access to safe and effective vaccines to all.

By joining forces with the Africa CDC and other international partners, the European Commission aims to support a fast and safe rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in Africa.

This EU initiative, with a steering role of the Africa CDC, will support two complementary dimensions of the vaccination campaigns in Africa: One track of indicative €25 million in funding will aim to support the rollout of the vaccination campaign in African countries. This will include the support for capacity building of national health authorities and health care workers as well as the support to managing the information and coordination platform on vaccination. It will also address critical logistical gaps, including equipment. This implementation at country and continental level will ensure better and independent monitoring of the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination campaigns across Africa, supporting Africa CDC’s ongoing work. From a long-term perspective, it would also seek to reinforce national health systems’ resilience to address future epidemic outbreaks.

The second track of an indicative €65 million in funding aims to support the rollout of vaccination campaigns in specific humanitarian settings, notably in conflict and hard-to-reach areas, implemented through needs-specific activities, in close cooperation with various EU humanitarian partners.

A further €10 million is in reserve, to be allocated to any of two tracks as needed.

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Corporate DispatchPro KEITH ZAHRA

CITIZENS’ RIGHTS

Consultation about electoral rights of mobile EU citizens The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the electoral rights of mobile EU citizens, as part of the follow-up of the 2020 Citizenship Report. The electoral rights of mobile EU citizens are included in the directives on the exercise of the right to vote and stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament as well as in local elections, for citizens of the Union residing in a Member State of which they are not nationals of.

The results of this public consultation will feed into the Commission’s proposal to revise the Directives on the electoral rights of mobile EU citizens.

Vice-President Věra Jourová said that the essence of democracy is the right to vote for everyone: “This is why we want to help securing this right. EU citizens who live in another EU country also have the right to vote and stand as candidate in local or municipal elections - under the same conditions as the nationals of that country.”

The legislative proposal for the revised Directives is expected by the end of 2021. The public consultation will gather experiences and opinions on the electoral rights of mobile EU citizens. It is addressed to all interested stakeholders, including the general public, civil society, academia and research institutions, local and national authorities, as well as communication companies and other businesses. The public consultation is available here and will be open until 12 July 2021.

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Corporate DispatchPro KEITH ZAHRA

FOREIGN POLICY

Arms Trade Treaty: EU steps up support in fight against illicit arms trade The EU will provide new funding for the effective implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The Council has adopted a decision allowing the EU to support three projects of the ATT Secretariat in Geneva with a contribution of €1.37 million.

The aim is to help states party to the treaty strengthen their national arms export control systems. Export control systems are key instruments for preventing the diversion and illicit trade in arms and contribute to more responsible trade in military equipment and technology.

More specifically, the EU’s support will support training local and regional ATT experts to deliver implementation assistance and reduce reliance on external consultants as well as building IT and communications mechanisms to enable more effective cooperation between states parties’ points of contact and the ATT Secretariat.

The project also strengthens the ATT Secretariatʼs institutional capacity to provide sustainable support to the state’s parties. It fits within the recently adopted strategy to strengthen the EUʼs contribution to rulesbased multilateralism, by promoting global peace and security.

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Corporate DispatchPro ANTONY CURRIE VIA REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS

Toshiba CEO exit gives better governance a chance Error-prone Toshiba (6502.T) has yet another chance to get things right.

Chief Executive Nobuaki Kurumatani resigned on Wednesday after a series of controversial missteps cost him the support of investors and staff. His ties to buyout bidder CVC Capital Partners may have caused problems in the boardroom, too. There’s a chance now to get the corporate governance right.

Kurumatani, who arrived following an accounting scandal and the collapse of the company’s U.S. nuclear business Westinghouse, was already in a precarious position when he only narrowly secured re-election at the company’s annual meeting last year.

Some uncounted postal votes caused concern as did reports that Harvard University’s endowment fund was pressured into not casting a ballot. In a rare victory for pushy investors in Japan, Toshiba shareholders voted last month in favour of an independent investigation into the affair.

The disarray made Toshiba vulnerable. It has attracted what the company called an unsolicited approach from CVC, at $20 billion as reported by media. Another cause of concern is that the suitor is Kurumatani’s former employer. And according to Toshiba director Osamu Nagayama, the proposal envisioned keeping Kurumatani in charge. Moreover, another CVC executive, Yoshiaki Fujimori, sits on Toshiba’s board, having joined after Kurumatani became the boss.

Toshiba could have set up an independent committee to scrutinise the bid, but such chummy relationships look bad. And Kurumatani already had clouds hanging over him.

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Corporate DispatchPro Nagayama says Fujimori will not take part in any review of CVC’s offer. That’s a start. The board can go further by setting up a robust and open process for reviewing the CVC bid, as Farallon Capital is urging. With so much private equity money sloshing around Asia, more suitors are also bound to turn up. KKR (KKR.N) and Brookfield Asset Management (BAMa.TO) are already considering the possibility, according to media reports.

More conscientious work from Toshiba will be necessary, however. The new CEO is Chairman Satoshi Tsunakawa, who was Kurumatani’s immediate predecessor. Such executive shuffling is hardly best practise. There’s also a chance the independent inquiry into last year’s vote will not reflect well on the board either. It’s one more reason to be sure and secure a good deal for shareholders.

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Corporate DispatchPro ED CROPLEY VIA REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS

French water fight ends in honourable $15 billion draw The seven-month fight between France’s leading waste and water utilities has ended with honours roughly even. After pulling out all the stops to fend off a takeover by Veolia (VIE.PA), Suez (SEVI.PA) on Monday accepted a deal that values the company at almost 13 billion euros.

Suez boss Bertrand Camus can claim to have squeezed a few extra euros out of his rival. Meanwhile, the 14 billion euro buyer scoops up 500 million euros of cost savings in North and South America without bursting its banks.

Given a rivalry that stretches back to the 19th century, any takeover was always going to be a passionate affair. The thorniest issue was what to do with Suez’s domestic water and sewage operations which, combined, would have been too much for French competition regulators. Camus attempted to thwart Veolia by transferring the business to an employee-controlled foundation. But once Veolia boss Antoine Frérot had lined up new owners for the unit, including infrastructure investor Meridiam and state-backed Caisse des Depots, it was only a matter of time before Suez’s defences were breached.

Veolia is paying 20.50 euros per share for Suez, nearly 14% above its previous bid. However, the bill for Frérot works out at just under 12.4 billion euros, thanks to the 29.9% stake he picked up last year at a slight discount. Including Suez’s 9.7 billion euros of net debt, the deal – including the soon-to-be-separated French operations – is costing Veolia 22 billion euros.

That just about stacks up. Suez will make an operating profit of 1.6 billion euros in 2022, according to forecasts compiled by Refinitiv.

Add the expected cost savings and deduct French corporation tax at 27%, and Veolia should reap a post-tax return of 1.5 billion euros, or 59

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about 6.8% of its outlay. That’s slightly above Suez’s 6.4% cost of capital, as estimated by Morningstar.

Splitting off the French business, along with relatively minor operations in Africa and Asia, should further improve Frérot’s sums. Meridiam said the “New Suez” was worth around 7 billion euros, lowering the allin cost for Veolia and leaving it to focus on the bits with the greatest overlap.

Suez’s defensive shenanigans and the months of wrangling may not have burnished the appeal of French M&A. Ultimately, however, shareholders on both sides can claim an honourable draw.

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Corporate DispatchPro LIAM WARD-PROUD VIA REUTERS BREAINGVIEWS

Credit Suisse bonus cuts are a necessary gamble Investment bank bonuses rarely act as the first line of defence. Many lenders continued to make generous payouts in 2009, even though taxpayers had just bailed them out.

Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) Chief Executive Thomas Gottstein may take a different tack out of necessity. It could serve as an overdue test of the market for bank talent.

The Swiss bank set aside less than usual for bonuses in the first quarter, the Financial Times reported on Monday. That helped add about $600 million to its pre-tax profit, buffering the near-$5 billion hit from the collapse of hedge fund Archegos. Roaring markets and a boom in special purpose acquisition companies also contributed.

As a result, Credit Suisse’s first-quarter loss will be less than $1 billion.

Gottstein had little choice. Even with the bonus savings, Credit Suisse’s common equity Tier 1 capital ratio will probably dip below 12.5%. With a further possible hit pending from funds linked to bankrupt supply chain financier Greensill, which have $2.3 billion of exposure to three particularly dicey clients, the bank was in danger of needing to raise capital. Gottstein could also still reverse course.

Banks accrue payments for future bonuses each quarter but don’t pay them out until the end of the year. Credit Suisse could in theory make up for lost time if it performs well.

Still, pay restraint would serve as a useful experiment. The old argument is that banks need to keep paying star traders and rainmakers, even during a crisis, to ensure they have a competitive franchise. Credit Suisse’s SPAC bankers, who topped the global league tables for blank-cheque companies in 2020 according to Refinitiv, could jump ship to a rival. A probable risk clampdown at 63

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Corporate DispatchPro Credit Suisse, and higher capital charges, may prompt traders to head for the exit.

Yet the market for investment banking is hardly roaring. Last year compensation and benefits fell as proportion of revenue at the wholesale units of JPMorgan (JPM.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N), Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE). Banks have slashed frontline trading staff by 13% since 2015, Coalition data shows.

And Credit Suisse’s investment bankers have hardly covered themselves in glory: the division’s average return on regulatory capital over the last five years is less than 9%. Gottstein may yet decide that a shrinking wholesale division is well worth the risk.

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BRIDGING THE INVESTMENT GAP

SUPPORTING SMEs, INNOVATION, INFRASTRUCTURE & SOCIAL INVESTMENT

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