Austin Gatt

Austin Gatt (born July 29, 1953 ) is a Maltese politician of the Nationalist Party and long-time minister.

biography

Secretary General of the Nationalist Party and MP

After attending school at the Lyceum of Malta, he studied law at the University of Malta and graduated in 1975 with the promotion of Doctor of Laws ( LLD ) from. He then joined one of the oldest law firms in Malta as a partner.

In 1980, the Partit Nazzjonalista (PN) entrusted him with building up an internal party organization in order to rule out possible fraud in the 1981 parliamentary elections, as was often assumed in the previous elections. In fact, in the 1981 elections , the PN achieved 51 percent of the vote.

Subsequently became the managing director of the PN owned Independence Print Company Limited, which carried out all commercial activities of the party as a corporation. In addition, he was the head of the legal department of the PN and, in this role, represented the Partit Nazzjonalista in a series of constitutional proceedings as legal advisor . In 1987 he was again entrusted by PN with overseeing the parliamentary elections and subsequently appointed chairman of the board of Independence Company Limited and Euro Tours Company Limited.

After the PN's victory in the 1987 parliamentary elections , he was elected General Secretary of the Partit Nazzjonalista at the party congress on February 5, 1988. This made Dr. Gatt was responsible for the entire party organization as well as the development of the party's political positions, which were subsequently discussed by the party's executive committee and board of directors. As Secretary General, he pushed ahead with a comprehensive reorganization of the political, organizational and commercial structures of the Nationalist Party and was also responsible for preparing and securing all party plans for the parliamentary elections in 1992 and 1996.

In the 1996 election , Austin Gatt was first elected to the House of Representatives , where he represented constituency 1 . Between 1996 and 1998 he was the opposition spokesman for the judiciary, local administration and housing, and was also responsible for building the PN television station. In the parliamentary elections in 1998 , 2003 and 2008 he was re-elected as a member of parliament.

minister

After the Nationalist Party's election victory in September 1998, Prime Minister Edward Fenech Adami appointed him Minister of Justice and Local Administration in his cabinet on September 8, 1998. This was followed by the introduction of e-government , extensive judicial reform and a reorganization of the local administrative authorities.

Following the 2003 general election, Prime Minister Fenech Adami appointed him Minister of Information Technology and Investment on April 15, 2003 . As such, he was responsible for information and information technology, but also for Air Malta , Gozo Channel Co. Ltd., Sea Malta Co. Ltd., Maltacom, Malta International Airport , Enemalta Corporation , Water Services Corporation, Malta Freeport Corporation, Public Broadcasting Services Ltd., Malta Drydocks Corporation and Malta Investment Management Co. Ltd. He kept the office of minister for information technology and investments after Lawrence Gonzi took over the office of prime minister in March 2004 as successor to Fenech Adamis.

After a government reshuffle, he became Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications on March 12, 2008. Immediately after taking over this ministerial office, the increase in the energy and oil surcharge and a new seven-day deadline for the introduction of automobiles from abroad led to protests among the Maltese population. He also advocated the construction of the Delimara power station near Marsaxlokk .

Talk

• Speech at the 13th International Conference of the Society for the Reform of Criminal Law, July 1999 (PDF file; 8 kB)
• Speech on the 50th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights
• 5th WORLDWIDE FORUM ON ELECTRONIC DEMOCRACY ON “THE INFORMATION SOCIETY: A NEW OPPORTUNITY FOR DEMOCRACY?” AT THE PALAIS DES ARTS ET DES CONGRÈS D'ISSY-LES-MOULINEAUX, FRANCE, September 30, 2004

swell

• Biography on the homepage of the Department of Information
• Composition of the Maltese Parliament from 1921 to 2008
• Malta Elections: Candidate List, Part 2: Craig to Mintoff

Individual evidence

1. ↑ rulers.org
2. ^ "Government launches four e-government initiatives"
3. ^ "Austin Gatt vs. Ryanair", WIRED MALTA April 29, 2006
4. ↑ Visit by Minister Austin Gatt, December 30, 2005  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ "Water tariffs are to remain unchanged - Austin Gatt," GOZO NEWS March 24, 2009
6. ↑ "Malteser Indignant About New Regulations", IMALTA July 15, 2008
7. ↑ Gatt again defends Delimara power station extension contract, TIMES OF MALTA May 20, 2009