Past, present and the future

I exit my car to a chilly Sunday morning breeze, walking distance from the parvis of St Gregory church in Żejtun. The dim morning sunlight dresses the place with a blend of lukewarm colours that are most appropriate for the occasion.

... it is not new buildings or steel structures that bring about new political seasons- Alan Pulis

Pope Gregory’s stern look towards Mdina is quite suggestive.

A wedding was celebrated the previous evening and there is a drift of pink petals close to the church’s main entrance and the space is filled by chant from the early morning Mass.

My walkabout is thoughtful as I have a look at the church and the nearby graveyard.

Originally dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria, St Gregory’s ambience is unique. The church seems impeccably kept. The place has fulfilled a very important role in mediaeval times when the traditional votive procession still held nowadays – though now very much reduced – seems to have started in 1543, Bishop Domenico Cubelles possibly intending it as a supplication for peace in Europe.

With Greece practically bankrupt and sending seismic waves all across the eurozone and Italy facing unprecedented turmoil, the future of Europe should indeed be in our prayers!

I stroll beyond the graveyards into a garden across the street. There is a fountain in the middle that cries out for some good maintenance. The kids’ play area, well-kept, is silent at this early morning hour. The landscape far away looks so peaceful. The sea in the vicinity of Delimara mirrors a blue and golden yellow that reflect the islands’ southern beauty.

I suddenly observe an intense whitish streak in the sky: it must be a Nato jet on its way to Libya. Delimara suddenly releases a greyish plume of smoke.

Europe faces grave economic turmoil and, in the aftermath of the Libyan Spring, things will never be the same again in the Mediterranean.

As 2011 slowly draws to a close, Libya presents itself as something new to be explored with all the economic opportunities it can offer and not just for rebuilding.

British commentators are already talking about Libya’s vast expanse of sandy beaches and the historical sites, with all the potential for mass tourism. It will not happen overnight but it will eventually happen. In the meantime, Malta’s tourism industry must reassert itself towards the prospects of having Libya as a major competitor in the years ahead.

How does the evolving Mediterranean geopolitics affect Malta’s oil potential? The logic will always be that the Maltese economy stands to benefit overall should there be a major hydrocarbon find in areas within our jurisdiction. Malta has only drilled 12 wells so far since the mid-1950s compared to several hundred by Italy and many others by our North African neighbours.

It has been reported recently that an oil company has secured funding to conduct seismic surveying south of Malta, in an area technically known as Area 4. Results are expected in the first quarter of 2012.

May such initiatives lead to success but many will surely be tempted to argue that it has become predictable enough to raise hopes and expectations about such matters in the months prior to an election.

The reality is that oil is not exactly a get-rich-quick scheme and unless hydrocarbon exploration and recovery is conducted with due diligence there may also be an unacceptable environmental price to pay. Nobody wants a Nigeria in the Mediterranean.

A flare-up seems brewing in the eastern Mediterranean where Israel and Lebanon, technically at war, are disputing an 850-kilometre square offshore zone that includes the Tamar and Leviathan fields, with a reported 238 and 450 billion cubic metres of natural gas off the northern city of Haifa.

The Jewish state would surely like to do without its energy dependence on Egypt, especially now that the Mubarak regime, for better or for worse an almost known factor for the Israelis, is gone. What is supposed to have been an Arab Spring for some can easily mutate, politically at least, into an autumn of uncertainty for others, only at a time when on the Western economic front the predictions are that Europe could be entering a winter of discontent in 2012.

A steel frame on a building nearby somehow shifts my thoughts, exaggeratedly, onto the Valletta City Gate project where new premises for Malta’s Parliament are in the making and, apparently, at a very steady pace.

Comparisons have been drawn between the recent transport reform debacle and Malta’s political scenario in 1998. The two episodes share one singularity: it is not new buildings or steel structures that bring about new political seasons.

I devotedly walk out of St Gregory’s admiring the place for one last time. The deceased was a genuine family man. May the Almighty grant him eternal rest.

sapulis@gmail.com

The author specialises in environmental management.