Lino Spiteri (23 September 1938 – 14 November 2014) was a

Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Maltese ...

writer and politician. He served as

Finance Minister A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

from 1981 to 1983, and again from 1996 to 1997.

Biography

Spiteri graduated in politics and economics at

St Peter's College, Oxford St Peter's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. Located on New Inn Hall Street, Oxford, United Kingdom, it occupies the site of two of the university's academic halls of the Univers ...

and got involved in politics in 1957 as a member of the Labour Party's national executive committee.Former Labour Minister and author Lino Spiteri dies, aged 76
''

Malta Independent ''The Malta Independent'' is a national newspaper published daily in Malta. It was started in 1992. The paper publishes an online version branded as ''Malta Independent Online''. References External links Official Website
1992 establis ...

'', 14 Nov 2014 He was first elected to Parliament in 1962, at 23 years, and served in Parliament for 21 years. From 1964 until 1966 Spiteri was deputy editor of It-Torca, and head of publications at Union Press. Spiteri worked as a research officer with the Malta Chamber of Commerce, and joined the

Central Bank of Malta The Central Bank of Malta () is the Maltese national central bank for Malta within the Eurosystem. It was the Maltese central bank from 1968 to 2007, issuing the Maltese lira. Since 2014, it has also been Malta's national competent authority wi ...

in 1970, later serving as its deputy governor during the Mintoff years, with the nationalisation of private banks. Spiteri served as Finance Minister from 1981 to 1983 and as Trade and Economic Planning Minister from 1983 to 1987. He did not always have a good relation with Prime Minister

Dom Mintoff Dominic Mintoff ( ; often called ''il-Perit'', "the Architect"; 6 August 1916 – 20 August 2012) was a Maltese socialist politician, architect, and civil engineer who was leader of the Labour Party (Malta), Labour Party from 1949 to 1984 ...

. In 1992 Spiteri contested the party leadership following the resignation of

Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, (17 July 19335 November 2022) was a Maltese politician who served as Prime Minister of Malta from December 1984 to May 1987.

, but he was defeated by

Alfred Sant Alfred Sant, (born 28 February 1948) is a Malta, Maltese politician and a novelist. He led the Labour Party (Malta), Labour Party from 1992 to 2008 and served as Prime Minister of Malta between 1996 and 1998 and as Leader of the Opposition from 1 ...

. In 1996, Prime Minister

appointed Spiteri as Finance Minister, but he resigned only five months later, in 1997, following Sant's announcement that he would remove VAT, a policy which he disagreed with, and on which he had not been consulted. With the electoral defeat of Labour in 1998, Spiteri left politics. In the following years, he was a regular political commentator and analyst on the country's newspapers.Lino Spiteri, former Labour minister, passes away
''

Malta Today ''Malta Today'' is a twice-weekly English language newspaper published in was published in 1999, and started out as a Friday newspaper. History ''Malta Today'' was first published on Friday, 19 November 1999. It was edited by Saviour Balzan, ...

'', 14 Nov 2014 In 2003, differently from the Labour Party line, he voted in favour of EU membership. In 2008 he was awarded ''Ġieħ ir-Repubblika'' and made Companion of the Order of Merit (K.O.M). Spiteri authored several novels and short stories such as ''Anatomija - short stories'' and ''Il-Halliel u stejjer ohra'', and was a regular newspaper contributor. He was married with four children.

References

External links

Lino Spiteri
M3P {{DEFAULTSORT:Spiteri, Lino 1938 births 2014 deaths Finance ministers of Malta Labour Party (Malta) politicians Maltese male novelists Alumni of St Peter's College, Oxford 20th-century Maltese politicians 20th-century Maltese novelists 21st-century Maltese novelists Maltese short story writers English-language writers from Malta Recipients of the National Book Prize