On Tuesday night we will bid farewell to a politically-charged year, which saw the Labour Party win a landslide victorty after 15 years in Opposition.
The transition has been smooth... to a certain extent. The most important pillar – the economy – appears to be holding on. Eurostat figures show the country remains financially and economically stable, aided once again by record tourism figures.
The decision to stabilise fuel and gas prices over longer periods has improved business planning. We still have to gauge the economic impact of the energy tariff reduction in 2014. The former Nationalist administration successfully managed to steer the country through the biggest economic recession the world has seen and this government is so far living up to its promise of being business friendly.
What this government has certainly not lived up to is its Malta Tagħna Lkoll slogan, an electoral ploy which fooled so many. The regime change has resulted in the culling of hundreds of public officials, with many Labour Party loyalists appointed to positions they never deserved, reinforcing Malta’s tribal mentality.
The upcoming year poses some serious challenges to the government. The health sector remains weighed down by bureaucracy and union leaders who think they have the right to run Mater Dei Hospital.
The biggest concern among many is that this government is showing it is prepared to sacrifice the environment for speculators’ greed. Just when the former government started tightening the noose around a sector which has done irreversible harm to the island, the construction lobby is once again being given concessions. We can only hope the cementification of our island will not spread into the sea as land reclamation proposals start being analysed in 2014.
Many will be happy to see the back of Arriva, the departure of which is certainly no fault of this administration. However, one thing we cannot ignore is that the public appreciated the introduction of polite drivers and accessible, environmentally-friendly buses which helped to transport the service to the 21st century.
In 2014, the government needs to do something about its international marketing. The rushed cash-for-citizenship scheme was a veritable PR disaster which gave the impression Malta was in financial dire straits. And as we know, perception is unfortunately reality. Despite cheekily unveiling a revised scheme, practically on Christmas Eve, the government should continue expecting media scrutiny on such a sensitive topic, the same way the Nationalists faced it with the honoraria debacle.
Likewise, we can only hope that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will start choosing his words more carefully in 2014 when he talks about irregular immigration.
His first few months in office have shown that no amount of posturing on the EU stage will hammer out a solution to migration issues. Maybe in the coming months, Dr Muscat should take a leaf out of President George Abela’s wise advice during his Christmas message that it is high time to start looking at migrants as a potential resource than merely as a threat and burden.
One of the biggest challenges facing this government in the new year is justice reform. The scandalous case of Magistrate Carol Peralta has only underlined the need for change and Times of Malta can only support any genuine attempt to fix a seriously wounded and inefficient court system that has frustrated a country for way too long.
Though still in its infancy, the government needs to learn from its mistakes and take constructive criticism in its stride.
We wish all our readers a Happy New Year.