MaltaMedia's Gozo-Affairs Editor Pierre J. Mejlak reports on the events that characterised 2003 in the small island of Gozo.

March 8th, 2003
On March 8, 2003, Malta held its referendum on European Union membership. On that same day one third of the electorate was called to elect their Local Council. The PN obtained 49,144 votes against MLP's 47,205. The LC elections in Gozo were held at Gharb, Victoria and Sannat. In Gharb the MLP decreased its votes by 7.9% to the advantage of the PN. In Victoria the MLP decreased its votes by 14.4% while the PN increased its share with 14.9%.
The Labour Party lost 7.7% of its votes share in Sannat, the PN lost 0.9% and the independent candidates increased their share by 8.16%.

April 12th, 2003
Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami called a General Election for the 12th of April on Monday 10th March - just two days after the referendum.
There were 23,632 eligible voters in Gozo. Eight-hundred-forty-eight eligible voters did not cast their vote, while 300 voters invalidated their vote.
Alternattiva Demokratika lost 34 votes from the 1998-election and got a total of 90 votes. The MLP increased its votes by 477 and won 9,177 votes, while the PN increased its share with 1,722 and won 13,217.
Giovanna Debono, Frederick Azzopardi and Anton Tabone were elected for the Nationalist Party, while Dr Anton Refalo and Justyne Caruana were elected for the Malta Labour Party.

June 2003
In June, Gozo hosted the table tennis competitions of the Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE). The competitions were held at the Gozo Sports Complex in Victoria. Athletes from Andorra, Cyprus, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, San Marino and Malta took part in these competitions, which gave Malta a silver medal in the men's doubles and a bronze medal in the men's singles competition.

August 2003
There were 450,289 passengers who crossed from Malta to Gozo in August 2003. This marked an increase of 8,732 passengers or 2% over the same month a year earlier. Tourism in Gozo reaches its peak in August, especially during the Santa Marija weekend.

September 9th, 2003
On Tuesday 9th September a Gozitan fisherman spotted a 60-foot boat carrying 166 illegal immigrants off Qala. Since the immigrants' boat was out of fuel, the same fishermen, Michael Hili, towed it to Marsalforn Bay.

However, the Armed Forces of Malta did not arrest the boatpeople as they stated they did not want to stop in Malta but wanted to reach their destination: Italy.

The boatpeople continued their journey towards Italy and were arrested a day later. However this incident sparked a controversy with Italian MPs saying Malta violated an agreement it had signed with the Italian government. In fact Italy sent back these illegal immigrants to Malta.

September 18th, 2003
Heavy rain downpours pelted Gozo on the morning of September 18th. Almost 29 millimetres of rain were registered in 24 hours. Members of the Civil Protection Department were called to extract people out of cars in heavily flooded areas, especially in Marsalforn and Xlendi.

November 2003
The fall timetable of the Gozo Channel Ferries created quite a stir and triggered protests from a number of Gozitan lobby-groups. The timetable, which decreased the number of evening crossings, was slammed by the Gozo Business Chamber and by the Gozo Tourist Association. The timetable was changed on December 8th when the company decided to re-introduce a number of evening crossings.

Meanwhile the Civil Aviation Department accepted Malta Air Charter's request to continue operating its helicopter service between Malta and Gozo until 31 October 2004. According to its policy of liberalisation, the government decided to open the operation of this service to whoever would like to operate in conformity with the requisites of aviation in the EU, known as JAR-OPS 3.

Air Malta's subsidiary company Malta Air Charter is running the service against a loss. If Air Malta were to continue operating the service it would start registering a loss of around Lm1.5 million every year.

November 8th, 2003
November 8th turned out to be a busy day for fire-fighters in Gozo. Fire broke out at the Astra Theatre in Victoria and at the Annunciation Chapel in Kercem.

Part of the theatre's roof caved in on the final day of the Mediterranea festival. A gala night which was to take place at the Astra Theatre in the evening was held at the St George's Basilica.

The fire broke out from a switchboard at the back part of the stage and spread quickly to the ceiling.

The Astra Theatre management has launched a fund raising campaign to restore the theatre in time for next year's Mediterranea festival.

It was a short circuit that triggered off the fire at the Annunciation Chapel in Kercem. The sacristy was extensively damaged. Luckily no one was injured.

December 16th, 2003
One of the most successful drug hauls this year took place in Gozo during the third week of December. Almost 24 kilograms of cannabis, worth Lm100,000, were seized from various locations in Gozo. Fifteen kilograms of cannabis were found in three plastic barrels in a field in Nadur. The cannabis had been harvested in the past few weeks.

Two Gozitan men from Nadur and Xaghra were also arrested.

Assistant Police Commissioner Paul Debattista described the haul as one of the largest in the past years.