Nov 21 - Number Six: Opposition Is Confusing Public Opinion With Stadium Company
It is obvious that the Opposition “are intent on confusing and misleading public opinion in relation to the proposed stadium at Europa Point,” according to the Government.
A statement released this afternoon from Number Six repeats that the stadium is not a Government project but is, instead, a private sector application by the Gibraltar Football Association which is currently being considered by the Development and Planning Commission in the same way as every other private sector application.
The information given to the Opposition in Parliament yesterday and the information made public some time back regarding Europa Stadium Limited is self-explanatory, says the Government. According to the Government, the company is an internal vehicle set up by the Government in the event that the land at Europa Point were to be transferred to the GFA. The mechanism by which this would happen is what was elaborated in Parliament. There is no contradiction, says the Government – one answer flows from the other and “all is dependent on the outcome of the planning process.”
The problem with the Opposition, says the Government, is that they blame others for their own shortcomings and for their failure to ask the right questions. According to Number Six, there was a very good example of those shortcomings in yesterday’s meeting of Parliament when Opposition Member Selwyn Figueras asked the Minister for Justice Gilbert Licudi to say whether he had made any progress on the review of the rehabilitation periods. Mr Figueras, says the Government, “was clearly not aware that not only had the review been completed, but as Minister Licudi pointed out, that a Bill on the subject had been published on 10 April 2014, it had come before Parliament on 30 May 2014 and it was passed on that day with the Opposition voting in favour!” The legislation has since been assented to and published in the Gazette.
A statement concluded: “This incident speaks volumes about the way in which the Opposition conduct themselves in Parliament and it reflects their failure to ask the right questions and then complain about the answers as has happened with Europa Stadium Limited.”
