|
Matthew Vella
The European Commission’s vice-president Margot Wallström is initiating an independent audit of the award procedure which selected Media.Link, a company owned by the Nationalist Party, to conduct a daily media briefing for the Commission’s representation in Malta.
Wallström was answering a question by Swedish green MEP Carl Schlyter after MaltaToday first revealed that the PN-owned company would be receiving EUR565,000 (Lm244,000) over five years to provide the daily media review.
The audit will be done by an “independent, outside specialised company”, spokesperson Mikolaj Dowgielewicz said.
“Commissioner Wallström has felt the need to get an external point of view of a possible conflict of interests. As soon as the results of the audit will be received by us, the Commission will take any action considered appropriate.”
The head of the Commission representation in Malta, Joanna Drake, said the Commission is looking for a judgement from an independent source following media reports and an inquiry by an MEP.
The Commission has reiterated its position that Media.Link was chosen on the basis of best value for money. “The fact that this tenderer was owned by a political party was known at the time of awarding the contract and this was not considered to be a conflict of interests by the technical services of the Commission rules,” Dowgielewicz said.
Media.Link monitors a set of Maltese newspapers and audiovisual media and provides a selection of press cuttings in English or translates them in English.
The Commission said its task “does not involve any political or other evaluation.”
The service contract for the company however states that contractors must “abstain from any contact likely to compromise his independence” and “take all necessary measures to prevent any situation that could compromise the impartial and objective performance of the contract. Such conflict of interests could arise in particular as a result of… political or national affinity.”
In November Dowgielewicz had told MaltaToday that excluding Media.Link for being a party-owned company “was considered as unjustified with respect to the public procurement regulations.”
The company will received over EUR109,000 this year for the contract, which has to be renewed every year according to performance.
Every day Media.Link sends a daily digest of both press and audiovisual media to the Commission through an internal server.
Commission representation head Joanna Drake, who was placed at the helm a month after the PN clinched the half-million euro contract, told MaltaToday at the start of the year that she hoped for more competition and a bigger choice of candidates on contracts.
She remains unsure whether political parties and their subsidiary companies should be prohibited from offering technical services for the Commission: “Don’t you think that would be exclusionary towards the party? Think about it – I don’t know what the right answer is.”
mvella@mediatoday.com.mt
|
