L-Ewroparlamentari Laburisti jingħaqdu biex jappoġġjaw l-interpreti freelance tal-Malti

L-Ewroparlamentari Laburisti għamlu rappreżentazzjonijiet flimkien mal-Parlament Ewropew u mal-Kummissjoni Ewropea f’isem interpreti freelance tal-lingwa Maltija li d-dħul tagħhom kellu impatt negattiv matul il-pandemija COVID-19.

L-interpreti freelance jipprovdu servizz importanti f’termini tal-funzjonament effettiv tal-istituzzjonijiet Ewropej.

F’mistoqsijiet ippreżentati b’mod konġunt lill-Kummissjoni Ewropea,  Alfred Sant, Miriam Dalli, Josianne Cutajar u Alex Agius Saliba esprimew dubji dwar il-kuntratt “speċjali” jew “differit” ta’ EUR 1 300 offrut bħala kumpens lill-interpreti.

L-Ewroparlamentari lmentaw li l-entitajiet rappreżentattivi tal-interpreti freelance ma ngħatawx l-opportunità jiddiskutu l-kwistjoni u jipprovdu l-kontribut tagħhom biex jaslu għal offerta aċċettabbli li tikkumpensa biżżejjed għat-tnaqqis fid-dħul.

Fit-tweġiba tagħha, il-Kummissjoni Ewropea qalet li l-offerta kienet parti minn pakkett ta’ miżuri ta’ appoġġ, li kien jinkludi wkoll li jiġu onorati l-kuntratti kollha minn Marzu sa tmiem Mejju 2020. B’kollox, il-Kummissjoni qalet li nefqet EUR 5.8 miljun fuq miżuri ta’ solidarjetà għall-interpreti freelance kollha minn Marzu 2020.

Lura f’April, Alfred Sant kien kiteb lill-mexxejja tal-istituzzjonijiet ewlenin Ewropej biex jenfasizza l-inġustizzja li qed issir lill-interpreti freelance mqabbdin mill-istituzzjonijiet tal-UE għal servizzi relatati mal-lingwa Maltija u kien insista li jingħata ftehim ġust lill-interpreti f’konformità mal-valuri Ewropej tal-ġustizzja soċjali.

Labour MEPS join forces to support Maltese language freelance interpreters

Labour MEPS have jointly made representations with the European Parliament and the European Commission on behalf of freelance Maltese language interpreters whose income has been adversely impacted amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Freelance interpreters provide an important service in terms of the effective functioning of the European institutions.

In questions jointly submitted to the European Commission, MEPS Alfred Sant, Miriam Dalli, Josianne Cutajar and Alex Agius Saliba questioned the inadequate ‘special’ or ‘deferral’ contract of EUR 1 300 offered by way of compensation to the interpreters.

The MEPs lamented that the freelance interpreters’ representative entities were not given the opportunity to discuss the issue and provide their contribution to arrive at an acceptable offer that sufficiently compensates for the decrease in income.

In its reply, the European Commission said the offer was part of a package of support measures, which also included honouring all contracts from March to end May 2020. In total, the Commission said it has spent EUR 5.8 million on solidarity measures for all freelance interpreters since March 2020.

Back in April, Alfred Sant had written to the leaders of the main European institutions to highlight the injustice being done to freelance interpreters engaged by EU institutions for services related to the Maltese language and had insisted that a fair deal is given to interpreters in line with European values of social justice.