Address by the Honourable Anġlu Farrugia, President of the House of Representatives, Parliament of Malta on the occasion of the inauguration of the exhibition on the Valletta City Gate Project at the Parliament of Malta Saturday, 1 August 2015 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PARLIAMENT OF MALTA Honourable Members of the House of Representatives of Malta, Senator Renzo Piano, Distinguished guests, Today, it is of great honour for me as President of the House of Representatives, to have with us here present, the master of the facelift of Malta’s capital city. We all are aware that this building was the centre of controversy for many, many days, months and years. This building which hosts the highest institution of the country, might still be a topic of controversy, but as time goes by, as much as the society has accepted certain sudden changes, yet all will forget the controversies and will differentiate their opinion and state that this building, was designed and bears the signature of one of the world’s top architects. One has also to acknowledge that the change was quite significant. From the entrance of a capital city that used to host hundreds of parked vehicles on a day-to-day basis, now we have a capital city that has an entrance that befits both its status and its history. We have an entrance that its first building hosts the highest institution; yes the way it should be, that now Parliament has its own independent building after near a century of parliamentary democracy in Malta. Thousands had visited the new Parliament at the very beginning, at the entrance of Valletta. Thousands of Maltese toured on the open days held on 6 and 7 June. Most of those who visited had the faculty to admire what they might had criticised and I can assure that words of praise reached my ears! Dear distinguished guests, All in all, this building which today is hosting its creator, has given birth to a new era to the institution that rests within it. It has longed been felt that Parliament should be autonomous! At least, the first move in the right direction took place on 4 May 2015, when the Parliament of Malta convened within this modern building, hosted within the capital city Valletta, the baroque city that bore the signature of Girolamo Cassar amongst other legendary architects. One has also to bear in mind that this magnificent, impressive building, that is part and parcel with the new fortified entrance of Valletta, will be playing an important role, when in 2018, Valletta will hold the title of Europe Capital for Culture. One has to remind our distinguished guests that Malta and the Netherlands will hold the title for the year2018-European Capital for Culture. The move of Parliament from the Grandmaster’s Palace to its new Palace right here, at the entrance of Valletta, brought with it other changes. Apart the fact that all new projects bring fear to some, enthusiasm to others, one can easily say that by now, all Maltese Members of Parliament settled in and accepted the way forward in this new building. Since the official opening of this building, being our national parliament, we have all the plenary sessions and all committee meetings, boradcast live on TV. Yet this is not enough. Parliament can only be viewed by those Maltese citizens who are registered members with the two service providers (and we have one of them who offers the service to those who have a particular software/hardware). I, as President of the House, am not happy at all with this situation, as I believe in full transparency, and thus I state, what better transparency would it be having Parliament and what is being discussed in a democratic country, aired free! The physical transparency of this building justifies my conviction. Yes, we are all in for this challenge, as we want to have a Parliament with a full TV channel of its own, in the best interest of the nation that elects its representatives in the most democratic way, thus having the most tangible democracy when it comes to work within the highest institution. So back to the building, this building has its own pride. It stands robust on iron pillars, fresh- looking, yet merging automatically with the past history of our bastions and the 16th century St James Cavalier. I recall well when after my election to President of the House back in April 2013, I called both parliamentary Whips so as to organise an on-site visit to the new Parliament building. I still remember the steel frames all around the building, where the Qala cut stone had yet to be placed, the loose wires around the delegations’ feet, hardback carton in the Government and Opposition floors so as to protect the parquet flooring, no doors, no lifts, no glass and a huge terrace covered in membrane. Today, after many tentative dates that had been set with regard to the official opening, we are here. Three months less three days have passed since the official opening. Apart the prestige of the building, apart the prestige of what hosts this building, I have the prestige of governing this institution, the highest institution of the country that operates from within, on a day-to-day basis, as I am its very first full time Speaker because I firmly believe that this building should be a magnificent showcase of parliamentary democracy in Europe. We will eventually arrive there. However until now, unfortunately, on a day-to-day basis I face along with my staff, unresolved problems related to the building, as till now, this glorious building lacks the proper functioning as certain works have not been properly completed. I am addressing these problems by insisting on all the contracts of works and their respective guarantees on the works. Three months after we entered this building, we are still exploring unanswered questions. Let’s hope that by the time this exhibition is over in the coming three months, the recurrent problems in this iconic building are permanently addressed. After all this building is all financed by the Maltese people. Honourable Members of the House, Senator Renzo Piano, Distinguished guests, As I said in the introduction of my speech, today it is of great honour for me to have with us present the master of Malta’s capital city’s facelift, who is honouring us with his exhibition. I am quite sure that this exhibition will be of success and would like to take the opportunity to thank those collaborators supporting this event namely the Ministry for Transport and Infrastructure, the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Lendlease, Malita, Valletta 2018 and Halmann. I am quite sure that the general public will attend wholeheartedly to understand well the capability of this man Renzo Piano, who with passion converted empty spaces into pillars of iron supporting the highest institution at the entrance of La Vallette's city. I wish above all, the best of success to you Renzo, with regard to the projects you hold and others to follow. I now call Senator Renzo Piano to make his address. .