It is a well-known maxim that, in a democracy, political parties exist to gain power and thus be in a position to implement their policies. The two main parties in Malta today stand close to the middle of the ideological road; the demarcation line between them is blurred.
Their means to communicate with the people and masses have changed too. Gone are the days of frequent street demonstrations, regular public mass meetings and the use of oratorial power to influence the masses. Today, television is considered to be more influential; mobile phones, through text messages, are a common and easier means to communicate directly with thousands of people; and the medium of e-mailing messages has been found to be effective and cost efficient.
Political parties, primarily the two major ones, are aware that the audience has changed as well. In Malta, traditional loyalty to a political party has become increasingly less important; people are more sceptical; tangible results are the considerations that sway people from one party to another; and the underlying consideration that is uppermost in people's minds is to support the party that can provide, directly or indirectly, earning capacity or income. Thus, it is observed that the political horizon is rapidly fluctuating from two different angles: political parties and people's political culture.
Many have come to the conclusion that it is not enough to earn one's keep and maintain the family. Today, family demands have changed; besides the consumption of essential commodities, a family has to cater for all household appliances, modern clothes, children's private education, owning a car or two (one per family is not considered enough), television sets in practically every room and at least a week's holiday, preferably abroad.
Economic growth
To satisfy these demands and to attract greater popular support, political parties are focusing their attention and energies on the country's economic growth. One notices that political goals for their own ends are no longer given so much importance in the parties' agenda.
Of greater significance are their plans for the economy; these must be plausible, feasible, easily understood. The ultimate goal is for everybody to share in benefits derived from an expanding economy.
In fact, both political parties, to gain larger support, are focusing on the best way to kickstart the economy on to an expansion path as it is believed that that is the only way to create employment opportunities, including increasing female participation rates, and ensuring that people will end up having more disposable income to spend the way they want.
In this respect, the Nationalist Party has an advantage over the Malta Labour Party because it is the party that holds political power. It is the party that can unfold its programme, fulfil its promises and steer the economy towards its desired goals - and on its performance people will either support the government, become more politically disillusioned or move on to other parties that can help them achieve their ends.
For the first time since 1987, the present government has prepared a pre-Budget document that investigates past economic performances, attempts new approaches for the management of public finances and delineates the way the national economy grows.
The objectives are pointed out in the Prime Minister's introduction: seeking the best for the country and doing our utmost in whatever activity we are involved, so that we meet the prevailing challenges. To succeed in this venture Government is focusing on economic growth, the environment and the continued development in education.
Furthermore, the body of this document includes the need to be more competitive in our economic activity; it states that we can only be competitive if we attract enough foreign direct investment, inculcate a more entrepreneurial culture, look for flexible markets and improve our innovative abilities.
An innovation
Despite all these platitudes, many of which sound quite familiar, Government expects each one of us to participate in the building of the yearly budget. This last point is an innovation in itself. Now Government wants to break new frontiers and invites all citizens to put across their ideas so that they may be investigated and, if they fit into the national economic strategy, will be taken into consideration. In the past, only constituted bodies were consulted, a practice which was formalised with the setting up of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD).
On its part, the Malta Labour Party has prepared plans and discussion papers to find ways in which the economy can improve its performance. The MLP has perceived that opposition to Government's policies for opposition's sake no longer holds any water. Constructive criticism and positive plans, particularly on economic issues, appear to influence more people to change their attitude and voting patterns as it shows that the party is respecting their intelligence and appeals more to their mind rather than the heart.
But the MLP has a relative disadvantage, since it is not in power. It cannot prove that its plans and ideas make sense; ideas may be good on paper but, when superimposed on real life situations, results obtained may be different from targeted ones.
Perhaps, the test for the MLP is to provide reasons why Government's plans are not good enough and deliver alternative policies. It is very important for the MLP, not being in government, to cater for contingency plans to show that it is taking this matter very seriously so that the normal excuses that world economic changes forced them to alter their goals will not be made. So far, this approach is way off the mark and the MLP cannot rely on governing by default.
Reliance on imports
Unfortunately for this small country, university students have to rely on economics textbooks that are generally obtained from industrialised countries and the examples provided are adapted from experiences prevailing in much larger nations. There are innumerable cases when economic strategies that are beneficial to these technologically advanced countries are not applicable to small states.
Consumption of goods produced within a large country is a good indicator of economic performance because it helps to generate economic activity, circulate money, provide savings and profits that can easily be channelled to investment for further economic expansion. But a small state, deprived of natural resources and having to rely on importation of all its needs, cannot rely on consumption for its economic growth. Consumption of consumables will only create a drain on financial resources.
If both parties want to vie for political power through their involvement in Malta's economic development, they have to focus solely on export growth of goods and services. It is already scandalous that Malta has had to rely for so long on just one firm to produce more than half of its total exports. In this respect, Malta's economic performance is extremely fragile as it stands on a shaky foundation.
When all the parties concentrate on export needs, the probability is that Malta will eventually succeed in its attempt because all attention and energies converge on a smaller area of activity. If this eventuality takes place, all the other economic variables: employment, investment, education needs, environment, competitiveness, etc., tend to fall into place because we shall be responding to the needs that will promote further progress.
The party that succeeds to pave the way to export growth will influence the people as the beneficial effects will spill over to everyone. Export growth will generate further demands and create wider opportunities for the people. The new road to political power is the one leading to good economic performance.
Dr Borda is an economist specialising in the economic development of small states.