I await the year 2003 with a feeling of trepidation on the one hand and resignation on the other, in anticipation of two major events in Malta's political history: the EU referendum and the general election.

Malta is currently witnessing a sense of frustration, disbelief and also apathy among a growing number of Maltese citizens who are by now downright fed up with the awful manner in which a majority of local politicians are treating this little island of ours.

The list of complaints of any reasonable person is now becoming endless:

(a) the relentless political bickering;
(b) the destruction of Malta's environment;
(c) the neglect of our national heritage;
(c) the short-sightedness of some of the local trade unions' demands;
(d) the presence of strong evidence suggesting pervasive corruption;
and the list goes on.

So now the prelude to 2003 begins and I gladly await the local politician's knock on my door.

What have we been doing to local politics? Need politics always be bogged down to the lowest common factor due to voting pressures? The beauty of democracy is the ability to get results after a due process of dialectical discussion. In contrast, in Malta politics has never elevated beyond the parochial level of 'you are wrong and I am right' and of course coffee mornings.

It is without hesitation that I suggest that it is high time for all the powers that be to get together and display a common front on a number of issues which are deemed to be essential to Malta's future prosperity.

The following matters immediately spring to mind: foreign policy, major economic decisions, environment, national heritage, culture and hunting.

The precedent of the consensus reached over the establishment of the financial services industry goes to show that with serious effort such a position is attainable.

And as for the rest, the political parties could agree to disagree in a gentlemanly fashion, but please stop once and for all the present destructive attitude.

Some would rush to dismiss such an approach as naive; given the size of Malta, I would rather call this the only practical solution in the eyes of any citizen who views the national interest as superior to partisan politics.

We must always keep in perspective that Malta's economy is not comparable to that of many other much larger developed nations.

We must face reality and open our eyes to the fact that we are but a small island with the total population of a medium-sized city in Europe.

Such a frame of mind is by no means defeatist, but rather one which should be conducive to an attitude where we thank heavens for all the prosperity we enjoy and in a dedicated fashion strive to preserve and improve our livelihood and standard of living.

So happy 2003 to the Republic of Malta.