The European Parliament’s rejection of Leo Brincat for a post on the European Court of Auditors, with its echoes of the Panama scandal, sets the tone for the new political season traditionally kicked off by Independence celebrations, which take place this week.
As the PN sets the ball rolling, both big parties have a lot of convincing to do with an increasingly sceptical electorate. Three years ago, many voters were fed up of the Nationalists and felt a change was needed. Now, many of those same voters have had their illusions shattered and their faith in politicians even more badly damaged.
Before the race to the polls becomes manic, both sides need to engage in some serious soul-searching. They need to become more conscious of the need to tone down the cynically partisan rhetoric that emanates from their various media, often verging on the hysterical. Don’t they realise how distasteful and disrespectful it is to the thinking public to constantly seek to manipulate them with their deliberate disregard for the truth and their hate mongering? Cooler heads need to prevail, with a focus on policies rather than populism.
In his speech at the Independence rally, PN leader Simon Busuttil will seek to present his party as good material for an alternative government. Despite his appeal not to be viewed as the “lesser of two evils”, the legacy of the PN’s long stint in government still weighs heavily. He needs to be clear and concrete about how a PN administration would be different on issues such as governance, the environment, political appointments and broadcasting.
He has yet to convince ‘floating’ voters that he would take the reins of power not by default, as scandal after scandal eats away at Labour’s popularity, but as someone deserving of it, because he has a solid vision and his people can be trusted to serve the country, not be self-serving.
He also needs to start spelling out persuasively how his government would keep the booming economy on track and create more diversity for future growth.
Labour, on the other hand, owes it to the many genuine voters who propelled it to power to repay them not just with money in their pockets, as economic growth continues apace, but by living up to its promises of meritocracy, justice and an end to nepotism and corruption.
This, by the looks of things, will require nothing short of a Damascene conversion, a totally fresh start to good governance, a genuine declaration of “we have learnt from our mistakes” by Joseph Muscat instead of his usual grandstanding.
This would entail, as a minimum, the resignations of Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri, along with a pledge to stop taking people for a ride on the audits and investigations that were supposed to examine their financial affairs. Only then would Labour start to win back some trust from that section of the electorate which views good governance to be at least as important as national prosperity.
The administration also needs to change course on its excessively pro-construction policy, truly strengthen environmental protection and appoint people who enjoy widespread confidence to run its important institutions, such as the police and the financial intelligence unit.
As the election draws nearer, Malta’s 2017 EU presidency will hopefully be a national affair, in which the government will consult the Opposition, which will in turn offer its full support to make a success of it. The government will need to focus on the major EU challenges of migration, terrorism, rising nationalism, Euroscepticism, youth unemployment and Brexit.
Meanwhile, as we celebrate 52 years of independence, the long-term challenge for politics at home is to put in place checks and balances that would clean it up, once and for all. Hope springs eternal.