The political heat intensified in 2015 as land scandals, summits and a controversial university project rubbed shoulders with positive economic data. Kurt Sansone looks back at the year that was.

With the general election more than two years away and the economy performing well, 2015 should have been a mundane year for politics.

But you will be forgiven for having a feeling of déjà vu because, like its predecessor, 2015 bucked expectations.

The largest environment protest in recent years was held in May, the Gaffarena land scandal rocked the government, in April voters rejected an attempt to stop spring hunting in a referendum and Parliament ended up with two independent MPs by year’s end.

All the while the Opposition upped the ante on criticism over governance issues. It called for the resignations of parliamentary secretaries Michael Falzon and Ian Borg and pinned the blame for slacking public standards on Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Economic figures released by the National Statistics Office showed that GDP had grown by more than five per cent for the fourth quarter running in September, giving the government reason to celebrate.

Growth remained well above the eurozone average as employment maintained its upward trajectory. Inflation notched upwards but remained just below the two per cent ideal benchmark set by the European Central Bank.

But a vibrant economy was not enough to spare the Labour Party from voter backlash in local elections held in April. Although winning a strong majority in elections across half the country, its lead was halved by a resurgent Nationalist Party.

PL insiders played down the significance of the result, insisting they were the first party in government to have won local elections at the midway point of a legislature.

The result, however, gave Opposition leader Simon Busuttil a reprieve, a year after suffering a crushing defeat in the European Parliament election.

The PN made inroads in Labour’s southern hinterland and recouped some of the ground it had lost in its strongholds at the 2013 general election.But in Gozo, the PN continued to lose ground as Labour consolidated the majority it obtained for the first time in the district at the last election.

History was made in April when voters managed to obtain an abrogative referendum in a bid to abolish spring hunting. An intense campaign ended with voters only just rejecting the move by bird conservation groups and animal lovers to ban spring hunting.

Hunters celebrated the victory after having embarked on a sleek campaign that emphasised minority rights.

But 2015 also saw the Catholic Church become more ‘political’ with the anointment of a new, diminutive, bubbly leader in March.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna waded into several controversies as he refused to shut up on matters of public interest. From the controversial granting of public land in an outside development zone for the construction of a university to the questionable lighting on Auberge de Castille’s façade, Mgr Scicluna took public stands that earned him both rebuke and praise.

Another major institution, the General Workers’ Union also got a new general secretary after Josef Bugeja formally took over from veteran Tony Zarb. However, Mr Bugeja’s honeymoon came to an abrupt end in October, when the National Audit Office concluded that the union had breached its contract with the government when it leased part of its Valletta headquarters to public utility company ARMS.

The union disputed the conclusions but the controversy added another scandal to a growing list of problems for the government.

The Sunday Times of Malta revealed the Gaffarena scandal in May. Businessman Marco Gaffarena had received more than €1 million in cash and land from the government in two back-to-back deals for the expropriation of half a Valletta property he owned.

The plot thickened when the newspaper uncovered the fact that land parcels given to Mr Gaffarena were undervalued and strategically located close to other property he owned.

An embarrassed government called for an internal audit investigation and subsequently the National Audit Office also got involved. The PN asked for Land Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon’s resignation. It never came, but the jury is still out as the Prime Minister bides his time until the NAO concludes its probe.

The PN lost an MP in May when former Gozo minister Giovanna Debono resigned from the party after her husband was charged with misuse of public funds when she was minister.

A Gozitan construction company owner had come forward with claims of public funds being used to fund work in private residences when Anthony Debono was works manager in the Gozo ministry. The Opposition leader was also drawn into the controversy after it came to light that he had met the Gozitan businessman soon after becoming PN leader. Dr Busuttil denied being privy to the claims of abuse.

Ms Debono retained her parliamentary seat as an independent MP as her husband’s case started being heard in the Gozo court.

She was joined by former Labour MP Marlene Farrugia in November after the outspoken dentist resigned from her party before voting with the Opposition on changes to a law splitting the planning authority.

Marlene Farrugia now sits as an independent MP, critical of the government

Dr Farrugia now sits as an independent MP, critical of the government on its environmental track record and governance shortfalls.

Her resignation ended a tumultuous relationship she had with the Labour government over its environmental choices.

In May Dr Farrugia – then still a Labour MP – had joined a protest organised by the PN in Marsascala over the government decision to grant land outside the development zone for the construction of a private university.

The controversy surrounding the creation of a Jordanian-owned American University of Malta prompted the creation of a new civil society grouping that called itself Front Ħarsien ODZ. The group organised a successful protest in Valletta in June.

The government eventually backtracked on its plans to grant 90,000 square metres of ODZ land at Żonqor Point for the project. In August it proposed a campus at Cospicua’s Dock One and another at Żonqor with a reduced footprint on ODZ land of 18,000 square metres.

But the controversy returned in December when the government published the contract for the transfer of land and insisted it be approved by Parliament before the Christmas recess. In an overnight marathon sitting Parliament approved the land transfer with the Opposition and Dr Farrugia voting against.

Towards the end of the year the PN shifted gear and started making proposals as it adopted a government-in-waiting approach. The more salient was an extensive document on good governance containing more than 100 proposals.

It was partly a reaction to the countless controversies that have hounded the Labour administration since it took office in 2013.

On the international front the government successfully organised two back-to-back summits in November – the Valletta Summit on migration and the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

The Valletta Summit brought together for the first time European and African countries to discuss a phenomenon that drove a deep wedge between EU member states in 2015. The summit was the result of a tragedy in April that saw hundreds of migrants perish off the Libyan coast. The recovered bodies were buried in Malta, the service broadcast to the rest of the world.

Libya remained a major concern for Malta. Several Maltese workers were kidnapped and later released as the North African country continued to descend in chaos.

On the domestic front, the police uncovered a racket of residence permits issued to Libyans, who were helped to set up companies in Malta with phantom stocks. Former Labour Party official Joe Sammut, an accountant, was charged in court with presenting false documents on behalf of Libyan clients.

The spotlight shifted to Identity Malta, the agency responsible for residence permits, and several employees were subsequently also charged in court.

The developments came against a background of heightened fear as terrorist acts in Paris, London, the US and other Arab countries perpetrated by Islamic State inspired individuals conditioned the public psyche.

Maltese company Corinthia was at the receiving end of a terrorist act in January, when Islamic extremists attacked its hotel in the Libyan capital Tripoli.

Towards the end of the year the government suspended the Schengen agreement as a security precaution for the November summits. This was later extended for the rest of the year in the wake of the Paris attacks.

A mundane year it definitely was not.