Sustainability and credibility

The terms 'not sustainable' and 'lack of credibility' seem to have entered the prime minister's diction in his rallying cries for support. He points at the Labour Party as lacking credibility and accuses the rest of us as being not sustainable.

Sustainability should be seen in the light of the many quangos which the PN government has conjured up for over a decade. These quangos, made up of authorities and other publicly-funded autonomous institutions, have contributed little to our economy. They have not improved our wellbeing and have hardly scratched the surface of our environmental problems.

The list of ailing and failing quangos grows longer each year: MEPA has not found sustainable solutions to our escalating environmental problems; the Malta Resources Authority has not introduced a new regulatory environment for water and electricity, and has instead reinforced the old monopolist regime in breach of EU regulations;

The Malta Centre for Restoration costs taxpayers half a million liri each year but has attracted only one new student this year while contributing very little to the much needed restoration projects.

Sustainability should also be seen in the light of the prodigal travel habits of the centre's senior management.

The argument that many of these quangos were needed in view of Malta's accession to the EU does not hold. In fact, Malta remains technically and culturally unprepared to handle the onslaught of strict EU legislation and directives which can only be implemented and fulfilled through greater discipline at all levels. However, it is common knowledge that Maltese society seems to be heading in the opposite direction.

The landfills fiasco is just one recent example which shows that the government and its agencies are unprepared to fulfil the requirements of EU directives. The truth about these quangos is that they have really served as employment agencies for PN activists who have been rewarded with comfortable jobs, undisturbed by the notion of accountability.

Now that the economy is facing the tribulations of greater deficits and debts, the PN ministers led by the prime minister have deemed it fit to point their finger at specific productive workers and accuse them of no longer being sustainable.

These 'unsustainable' workers include productive workers who have built and repaired ships at risk to their own lives and workers who contributed to public broadcasting of news and cultural programmes for all.

It is disconcerting that these productive workers are being labelled as a burden to our society, while others are unaffected by the prime minister's accusations and remain unaccountable in autonomous organisations funded by taxpayers' money where they can afford to be unproductive.

The emerging reality is that of an ailing party in government which has lost its will to serve the people and seems to be recoiling back to its old notion of a two-tier society made of an upper tier of unaccountable persons and a lower tier which includes 'undesirables' such as the drydocks and PBS workers.

These resurgent notions are not alien to the PN, and find their roots in its historical black past. These are difficult times of our workers and for democracy. Malta is facing challenging times that will test not only our ability to be more competitive but also our ability to choose what is right for our society. In this regard, the Labour Party remains unflinching in its belief in social justice and in equal opportunities for all of our citizens.

On the other hand, the PN is on the verge of performing an acrobatic U-turn to revert to its true black colour, while shedding its borrowed robe of a party claiming to uphold social welfare for all.

Comments by a number of PN ministers already herald the change in direction. Notwithstanding this, the prime minister now accuses the Labour Party of lack of credibility because the last election results clearly showed a majority in favour of accession of the EU. This majority should not be interpreted as a popularity vote for the ailing PN but as a consequence of long historical and cultural conditioning.

It is a fact that the popular support for the EU in the other applicant countries was not borne out of a love for the bureaucratic institutions in Brussels, but was partly conditioned by fear of again falling prey to their historical oppressors, namely Russia and Turkey, which they deem to be non-European.

Like these, Malta is a country at the periphery of Europe, speaking a language with roots outside Europe, and surviving for centuries as a Christian nation in a hostile sea dominated by mighty non-European neighbours.

The Labour Party's opposition to EU accession may have been misinterpreted as opposition to Europe. It has therefore proved unpalatable to many voters who as individuals and collectively may have battled in their minds with our ambiguous cultural identity and with the fear of being left alone 'outside Europe'.

Pro-European cultural conditioning of many voters did play a significant role in the rejection of Labour's milder but more appropriate approach to Europe in the last election.

The prime minister should be congratulated for craftily saddling the expired PN programme with the pro-EU debate, which proved to be a winner for the PN for historical and cultural reasons.

However, the prime minister definitely cannot accuse Labour of lack of credibility. The Labour Party was honest in its arguments on the difficulties and hardships which our small, badly administered country will have to face when joining a club of nations that dwarf our country.

The problem Malta is facing now is that of having a government administration which knows little of those European virtues of good administration, accountability, honesty, efficiency and care for the under-privileged. Meanwhile, Labour is fully prepared to take Europe by its horns and will ensure that the promised benefits of EU accession will reach everyone.

Mr Mizzi is the MLP main spokesman for infrastructural services.