Time seems to be flying faster than usual. The Labour government is already one year old. Not new anymore, though it is still stumbling upon old negatives that have to be listed as carried forward from the Nationalist era. More so, however, it has to be judged on its own initiatives and how it deals with the PN items brought forward. It has not been doing badly, but not quite as well as expected.
One conspicuous item is the unsung disappearance of the catchy election slogan, ‘Malta belongs to us all’. It still does, of course, but the government does not remind us of that.
Pressed it would argue the obvious – that what it does is for the country as a whole. But the sweet sounding assurance is not on the score sheet anymore.
As a matter of fact, it is no longer the case of the ministers and parliamentary secretaries saying the government is all of them. Soon enough, they will be shuffled. Few may go but musical chairs might be more extensive than expected, reflecting the fact that many of the appointees had no administrative track record.
Once the Prime Minister has to make an ongoing assessment of his team, it is best that any action he feels he has to take is out of the way as early as can be.
We shall see whether he springs any more surprises after the mystifying focus on Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, shunted from her coveted social security ministerial post to the ceremonial role of president, leavened with some sectors of her old – well, only one-year-old – ministry. She will be one of two things – neither here nor there, or here, there and every social where.
Probably she’ll make the experiment work. How the new changeable gown will fit future presidents remains to be seen by those who will be around at the time.
In his first 12 months, the Prime Minister has shown a resolution not everybody knew about. He is quick on the uptake, masters a brief well and hard-headed once he’s set his course. That pleases grass-roots supporters, who do not seem to have started growing disenchanted with the outcome so far. Whether swingers, the considerable number of voters who ditched the Nationalist Party to give Labour a chance are as enthused is another matter.
There will be an indication in the coming European Parliament elections. The sitting government traditionally loses support. Joseph Muscat is already positioning himself to recognise that Labour will lose the fourth seat (out of six). He aims for a voting majority. That is likely.
What will essentially count, however, will be the size of the majority. That will depend on who will compose the segment of voters who will stay at home.
One would like to think that non-grass-roots voters at least will be reflecting an objective assessment of the government’s first year and a bit in office. If they do that, they are likely to give a high score to the government’s commitment to civil liberties. It has been readily extending rights to minority groups. It also reached quick agreement with the Vatican to make the civil aspect of marriage dominant as far as the State is concerned, strengthening the separation of Church and State and making Malta more secular than it had ever been before.
The dire predictions made by the Nationalists that the economy will decline have not materialised
Divorce legislation is only one aspect of that development. Observers will also be assessing how the government has performed on the economic and financial front. The economy has continued to thrive, pleasing the rating agencies. Unemployment, which started rising some 18 months before the Nationalists were turned out of office, has continued to grow in volume, which is a worry. In relative terms, it has fallen.
Inward direct investment has risen and Malta Enterprise has been quite successful in attracting new investment. Surprisingly, this point is not emphasised. In fact, one gap which the government has allowed to develop is in its public relations.
The well-oiled purring machine which saw the Labour Party race ahead in the 2013 polls is no more. It was dismantled within the party, without being rebuilt in the public administration.
A year with some waste is not a disaster. But time will continue to fly and support lost along the way will not be easy to regain in the run-in to the next general election.
The dire predictions made by the Nationalists that the economy will decline have not materialised. Nor has the broad financial services sector suffered.
Again, the Nationalists were wrong in this regard, particularly about the international effect of the Industrial Investment Programme. That citizenship issue could and should have been handled much better.
Yet the Opposition came out of it more badly than the government. Its total attack initially betrayed the naked negativism of the PN approach, then it moved on to various somersaults as the Nationalists, having started off rejecting the scheme as a matter of principle, ended up seeking ways and means how to support it.
The individual ministries will soon start giving an annual report about their first-year performance. In that regard, Marie- Louise Coleiro Preca easily beats the rest for focus and passion; and results were about to start coming in. How that will be emphasised to the public once she is President in a month’s time, is not clear.
For my money, the most successful minister has been Evarist Bartolo at education and in conjunction with employment. He showed that the criticism he used to levy as shadow spokesman in Opposition was not mere rhetoric. He was able to substantiate his analysis with facts and figures. That allowed him to do something about it. And he did.
His programme of action is not something easily digestible by the people at large. It is, however, of huge relevance to the well-being of the education system, to future employment and growth.
Muscat will not wait for anniversaries to review his troops, where they are doing well and where they slipped.
He will also be reviewing his own actions or lack of them. I hope that his advisers will play their proper role and tell him frankly where they think he himself can do better.