Salesman Pat

According to the survey on cultural participation (Kultura 2000) carried out by the National Statistics Office, more people prefer watching cartoons on television (25 per cent) to following European affairs on newspapers (23 per cent). Will these figures change as the country submerges itself under successive tidal waves of campaigning aimed at winning the hearts and minds of the electorate called upon to decide the shape of future relations between Malta and the European Union?

Will more people switch off, nauseated by claim and counterclaim, as the two major parties try to win over as many people as possible to their position of membership or partnership with the EU?

Government is spending hundreds of thousands of liri of taxpayers' money to push its pro-membership line. Foreign Affairs Minister Joe Borg told Labour deputy leader George Vella (PQ 33,397) that the Malta-EU Information Centre has 12 full-time and eight part-time employees. The wage bill reaches Lm8,200 a month. The centre has Lm900,000 of public funds to spend this year.

Foreign Affairs Minister Borg also said (PQ 33,435) that government is putting the finishing touches to a contract with a person engaged to provide "professional advice" on promoting Malta's foreign policy in Malta and beyond. Minister Borg did not say who this person is going to be but this person, who is a freelance opinion writer and advertiser has already started working at her job promoting EU membership.

Government will also seek and obtain more than a little helping hand from its friends visiting Malta briefly just to tell us that it is up to us to decide on the EU issue but their main message is in favour of membership. One of the latest salesmen to knock on our door was the president of the European Parliament, Pat Cox.

In his public speeches and appearances he pushed hard the pro-membership line. Whenever and wherever the media were present and the video cameras were on, Cox just repeated his sales talk that Malta should join the EU. But when asked specific questions about the local situation, he refrained from answering, saying that he does not know enough about the Maltese reality to give meaningful answers.

On the last evening of his visit at a San Anton dinner hosted by President Guido de Marco and attended by senior Government and Opposition MPs, Pat Cox again made his pitch in favour of membership. But he then made an important point which he had been careful not to make in the presence of the media: that if Malta does not become a member "we can still engage... there are common areas where we can work together."

This sounded very much like Labour's partnership policy with the EU. Even salesmen sometimes relax, especially after good food and wine, and allow glimpses of truth to show through the narrow slits of their packaged sales talk. But expect these very brief moments of truth to get fewer and fewer as more salespersons knock on our door in the months ahead trying hard to sell us EU membership.

A tale of two companies

MISCO and KPMG are run by a handful of persons who are very well connected. Prime Minister Fenech Adami told Parliament (PQ 33,555) that between 1999 and 2001 the Office of the Prime Minster commissioned MISCO to carry out two reports: a "European Values Survey" and a "Survey on Consumer Confidence and the Economy".

MITTS Ltd commissioned KPMG to undertake a "Requirement Analysis for the Land and Estate Management System". The same public company which falls under the Prime Minister's responsibility commissioned MISCO to find out the levels of salaries in local IT companies.

The Management Efficiency Unit commissioned two management consultancy reports from MISCO.

The Central Information Management Unit commissioned a MISCO report consisting of a "General Public Survey - Perceptions in relation to e-Government".

Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi informed Parliament (PQ 33,554) that between 1999 and 2001 MISCO and KPMG were involved in drawing up a study of the impact of EU Directives on health and safety at the workplace. They also prepared the documents on the government's request to ask for transitional periods on four EU directives on health and safety.

The deputy prime minister said that KPMG also provided professional advice on private sector involvement in running homes for the elderly. KPMG also supplied consultancy services on improving IT systems at the Employment and Training Corporation.

He also said that MISCO organised courses for his ministry's employees. MISCO was also asked to prepare a report on the organisational structure of the Department for Industrial Relations and Employment. MISCO was commissioned to conduct research on "Social welfare structures for women in the Maltese Islands with special regard to women in difficult circumstances".

Finance Minister John Dalli told Parliament (PQ 33,553) that in the last two years KPMG carried out these assignments for the Malta Stock Exchange: "MSE - Strategy and Initiatives; Tax on Listed Securities" and "Draft Securitisation Legislation".

Minister Dalli said that every three months MISCO conducts business perception surveys for the Central Bank Quarterly Review. On a continuous basis MISCO provides "Vacancies Monitoring Services" to the Malta Financial Services Centre.