Editorial

One particular comment the prime minister made in an interview he gave to The Times earlier this month is being considered by many as perhaps one of the most revealing political observations Eddie Fenech Adami made for some time.

In the interview, Dr Fenech Adami was asked whether he was preparing a very harsh budget. His reply was: "It has to be a realistic budget. The country can no longer ignore issues that exist and have to be tackled seriously. Sometimes, interim solutions are sought. The time for that is past. This is clear in the case of the drydocks.

"We have been seeking interim solutions which have not given us long-term results. This also applies to other issues, almost across the board. Look at social security and the health system... we have to seek long-term solutions."

The Times was among the first to comment on the prime minister's frank admission that sometimes the country had been seeking interim solutions to issues. It asked: How can the government expect interim solutions to give long-term results? Was it not the administration's duty to work for long-term solutions to existing problems?

The Times will not backtrack from this stand as it strongly holds that it was the government's responsibility to ensure that the country seeks the right solutions to the island's problems. The party headed by Dr Fenech Adami has been in government long enough now to properly assess the problems and tackle them the right way.

Of course, taking an overall perspective of the political and economic situation, the government has done a great deal since taking over from the socialists and redirected the island's economic and political course. But it is not that which is under debate now but the administration's ability to tackle, or to lead the country to tackle, what are seen as the island's key problems, concurrently with the implementation of its political programme of taking Malta into the right direction.

With Malta now on the doorstep of joining the European Union as a member in May next year, along with the rest of the applicant countries, there is no doubt that the government has been manifestly successful in marshalling the country into the right direction. It has won majority support for its ideals and is now steadily bringing the Labour Party to its side as well.

Having said all this, and recognising in no uncertain manner the fact that the government shoulders, or should shoulder, full responsibility for the fact that sometimes the country has been seeking interim solutions to problems, are the opposition in parliament and the social partners in development absolutely free of any blame for the situation we are in today?

Labour leader Alfred Sant may well join the chorus of disapproval that includes The Times and others in criticising the government over this but what about the opposition's own contribution to the national effort in solving problems? Has its contribution been more negative and obstructive than positive? And what about the role of the trade unions? Have they genuinely all contributed to efforts aimed at solving difficult problems? What about the people's own contribution to the effort, other than that which is generally expected of us by law?

It is time for us all to give honest answers to these questions as we attempt to make a renewed drive to remove obstacles to growth.