The Today Public Policy Institute has decided to strengthen its contribution to debates on issues of crucial importance to the country at a time when it sees institutions being weakened and checks and balances failing to work properly.

Malta’s only independent think tank dedicated to proposing national policies is planning to expand its work, prompted in part by the “maladministration and misgovernment” of the past two years.

“We feel that, now more than ever before, there is a pressing need for independent policy advice and objective policy development,” said Martin Scicluna, a former government advisor who has just stepped down as director general of the Today Public Policy Institute.

The decision to broaden the institute’s operations comes after a review it commissioned on its decade of work so far. The conclusion was that there is an even greater need for a think tank in the situation the country finds itself in right now.

“We have experienced a fair bit of maladministration and misgovernment, of institutions which have been overridden by government,” said Mr Scicluna, a founding member of the TPPI in 2007.

“The checks and balances within government are not really working. We are very conscious of that.”

Over the years, the institute has produced 14 thoroughly researched reports with proposals for public policy in areas ranging from health and the environment to immigration and the Constitution (see side bar).

Some of the studies have been highly successful in prompting change, such as the institute’s first on reforming Mepa, largely taken on board by the Gonzi administration, and its report on re-marriage, which led to the divorce debate. Others have had little impact, such as proposals on making social security sustainable and on the regulation of broadcasting.

As the institute closes in on its 10-year anniversary, it has commissioned Joseph Tabone, a founder board member and now acting director general, to carry out a review of its work. Mr Tabone helped the Fenech Adami government introduce ICT to government and set up the Malta Communications Authority in 2000.

The manifestos tell us where we want to be in four years’ time, but where is Malta going to be in 2030?

Following his report, the TPPI decided to boost the intellectual resources it can call upon by creating a new tier of 20 to 30 “fellows” to its existing board of 15 members. This means the pool of people who can act as lead authors for its reports has been greatly expanded, as has the range of its expertise.

The fellows are recognised for their intellectual ability, non-partisan approach and independent mindedness “capable of assessing a situation based on merits and evidence”.

Among the 15 board members are well-known names such as former Central Bank governor Michael Bonello, former BOV chairmen John Cassar White and Joseph F. X. Zahra, former Speaker of Parliament Michael Frendo, former Mepa director for environment protection Petra Caruana Dingli and former CEO of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services Sina Bugeja.

The fellows, all new to the work of TPPI, include University of Malta pro-Rector Godfrey Baldacchino, former Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Michael Briguglio and former CEO of Playmobil Malta Helga Ellul.

The institute would like to increase the frequency of its reports, which have so far been published at the rate of two a year.

It also plans to offer private and State institutions the possibility of commissioning reports from it in return for payment, while preserving the autonomy and independence of the institute. This would help raise the extra funds it needs to expand the scope of its work, besides the funding it currently receives from a number of companies and organisations.

Another area it will explore is having more of a presence in the media, possibly with its own TV programme, as well as conducting more seminars. A seminar is in fact planned on the subject of ‘Enhancing Policy Formulation in Malta’, which will feed into the next report, by the same name, due out from the institute.

The forging of links with the University of Malta and with foreign think tanks is also on the horizon.

Another idea is to help create a public policy institute funded by the government, but independent of it, “with the best brains employed on a full-time basis”.

At its last meeting a few days ago, institute members and fellows discussed the work plan for 2017.

In the run-up to the election, it is not shying away from considering a list of hot topics to study and make recommendations on, such as the loss of confidence in government institutions, public sector governance, public procurement, land use, the water crisis and the traffic crisis.

Q&A with Martin Scicluna

Why does the country need a think tank to propose public policies? Are governments and their ministers not up to the job? After all, policymaking lies at the heart of governing.

You would think so, as Sir Humphrey would say. The truth of the matter is that parties produce a manifesto made up of a list of promises, most of which they have not thought through. When they come into government they find they have no idea how to implement their objectives successfully.

I sincerely believe our ministers are utterly untrained. They come into office with no idea what they are going to be dealing with: how to run a department and ensure their civil servants do what they want them to do.

I am hoping we might have introduced ministerial training before the next election. Let’s assume the Nationalists win the next election. How many of that shadow cabinet have had proper experience? Probably three or four. They need to understand how the structure of government works, know what levers to pull, how to run an organisation.

The think tank can give advice, and we are offering to fulfil this role. This is really where the deficiency lies.

Should policymaking not take place before manifestos are produced? It’s what the Opposition seem to be doing right now on some issues.

Absolutely. During the period 1971-1987, particularly the last eight years, Eddie Fenech Adami had a team of people, including Louis Galea, John Dalli, Michael Falzon, Michael Frendo and Fr Peter Serracino Inglott, who devoted themselves to where the country was going and formulating policies for all those areas, of which the most fundamental was the need for Malta to join the European Union.

When in 1987 Fenech Adami came to power he had it pretty well worked out: how to improve the public service and so on. That is really what should be going on. And it should be going on even when you’re in government. Britain has a policy unit within the Cabinet which does all of this.

So it’s putting policymaking on a professional level, if you like.

Yes, that’s crucial. It is what’s missing. Expressing a personal view, we have no idea where we’re going as a country. The manifestos tell us where we want to be in four years’ time, but where is Malta going to be in 2030? There must be a vision. For example, are we going to go on increasing our population with East Europeans and others? How are we going to use our limited land resources?

How does politics – often purely about the pursuit of power – get in the way of good policymaking?

With all the ministers I have worked for, their heart is in the right place. They genuinely wanted to do good for Malta. But the politics undoubtedly get in the way. They have to answer to their Cabinet colleagues.

For example, Cabinet members are not always as keen on the environment as the minister for the environment. The politics of immigration are so sensitive that other ministers may not support a move towards more integration because of the xenophobes in our midst.

This is the clash between politics and policy, which is almost impossible to get away from. But there are ways. Part of the development of policy is how to get round the roadblocks.

What is the role of public opinion in the policy process? Does the Maltese public care enough?

In Malta, civil society is moved when it affects them directly. On the whole we tend to be fairly complacent as a society. It takes a lot of moving.

The role of public opinion is crucial: we are trying to influence civil society, which in turn will influence the politicians to do the right thing. On the environment it is beginning to happen. Joseph Muscat has lost his way, and Simon Busuttil is taking advantage of that, producing a very good document. But that was because public opinion has moved in that direction.

If you were to single out one report of the 15 the TPPI has produced over the years, which would you most urge the government to adopt?

Our report on the Constitution. Expressing a personal opinion, of the things holding us back, it is the checks and balances in government. Our institutions are being undermined. If you get a strong individual leading the government who’s prepared to ride roughshod over institutions, you end up with the sort of difficulties we’re facing at the moment.

It is a tragedy that because the government and the Opposition could not agree on who would run the constitutional convention, they chose Franco Debono. He was a red rag to a bull. Had they chosen somebody like George Abela, an objective and open-minded person who had already started down this path and is somebody everybody respects, the thing would have been done by now.

The Today Public Policy Institute: aims and values

The institute aims to develop sound public policies, stimulate public debate and inform public opinion on issues of national importance “in the interests of the many, not the few, and in the long-term interests of the country as a whole, not sectorial interests within it”.

It takes a “constructive, open-minded and tolerant” approach, maintaining an independent, impartial, non-partisan stance.

It seeks “consensus and cooperation, rather than confrontation”, seeking to be objective, balanced and free from prejudice.

It seeks solutions which are “just, fair, equitable and workable and for the common good of Maltese society, regardless of background, gender or political affiliation”.

TPPI’s proposed policies: how have they been received?

The Today Public Policy Institute has published 15 reports over the years with various lead authors. Here’s a sample:

• The Environmental Defi-cit: The Reform of Mepa and Other Regulatory Authorities, April 2008. The recommendations, the first to come out of the TPPI, were broadly adopted by Lawrence Gonzi and Mario de Marco in the Mepa reform of the time, according to the assessment of the reports carried out by the institute’s acting director general, Joe Tabone.

• Managing the Challenges of Irregular Immigration to Malta, November 2008. “Very firmly noted” by government but “poorly implemented”.

• For Worse, For Better: Re-marriage After Legal Separation, June 2009. Fully adop-ted. “The spark that lit the fuse that led to the introduction of divorce in Malta.”

• The Sustainability of Malta’s Social Security System: A Glimpse at Malta’s Welfare State and Suggestions for a Radical Change of Policy, July 2009. Despite every effort to get the then government to face the issues raised, there was no follow-up. “A very disappointing outcome to a first-class report.”

• A Strategy for Addressing the Nation’s Priorities, April 2012. The majority of issues raised found their way into the party manifestos but recommendations on the economy were largely ignored.

• Same Sex: Same Civil Entitlements, May 2013. This report was “pushing at an open door”. Fully implemented by the government.

• Review of the Constitution of Malta at Fifty, September 2014. An “excellently received” report. But it has been hampered by intra-party tensions over the Constitutional Convention.

• The Environmental Dimension of Malta’s Ill-Health and Action to Prevent Obesity, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease and Dementia, December 2015. “Extremely well received”. Awaiting summons before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health.

• The Future of Nature Parks in Malta: Innovation and Management, February 2016. Good media coverage. But no follow-up. Environmental NGOs (other than Din l-Art Ħelwa) were lukewarm.

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