Bonġu News on Thursday 28 September 2023

A selection of news from Malta and Gozo, served with your first coffee in the morning

More cases of illegal hunting in bird sanctuaries

Illegal hunting continues on all the species that are currently passing through Malta, BirdLife said.

It said reports and more victims of illegalities were coming in every day, even from areas were hunting is prohibited.

Bird sanctuaries such as Buskett and Għadira were not enough to protect the birds from illegal hunting.

During the last week, four injured birds were collected from such areas, the NGO said.

Every illegality during the current autumn hunting season should be reported to BirdLife Malta or to the Environmental Protection Unit.

Subsidies on energy, fuel and food are set to continue into next year, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said on Wednesday.

However, he warned the mentality that the government can continue to spend indefinitely needs to change.

Caruana was speaking at a business breakfast, launching the public consultation on the government’s budget for 2024.

“You can spend a little more than you earn for a little while, but you cannot do so forever”, he said.

The European Commission is pushing for EU member states to phase out subsidies.

According to Caruana’s pre-budget document, Malta’s economy will grow by a moderate 4.4% next year while the deficit will decrease to 4.5%.

The document does not include any concrete measures that will be part of next year’s budget.

The Nationalist Party said this was evidence that the government lacked vision and ideas for a new economic model.

Caruana also told journalists he will “soon” be announcing a new development on Air Malta’s future.

On Tuesday, Transport Malta CEO Jonathan Borg issued an interesting appeal.

Borg has urged individuals to consider using the roads during less congested hours when possible.

He appealed for cooperation with traffic officials, and for more caution in the early hours of the day.