In its 2014 report on how Malta’s EU membership had changed the country, the Today Public Policy Institute concluded that Malta should look to the future “with the confidence it has earned after 10 well-spent years of EU membership. But it must also keep its eyes wide open to the dangers and challenges ahead, in the knowledge that there are no guarantees of success beyond our own hard work, resourcefulness and good governance”.

The central importance of good governance to our polity and future well-being is something we can all agree on, a subject of rare national consensus.

All political parties, together with a great majority of the electorate, would also broadly agree about what we mean by good governance: a healthy democratic process, effective leadership, ethical and professional standards, respect for the rule of law, strong, impartial institutions, accountability, meritocracy and the stewardship of our common resources for the benefit of present and future generations.

Recent years have seen the accentuation of a damaging ‘anything goes’ mentality

We would also all agree that for governance to be good it must be open and transparent, so that stakeholders and the public have access to full, accurate and clear information on matters they may have a stake in.

Yet this broad consensus in principle does not make good governance any easier to achieve in practice. The Today Public Policy Institute is preoccupied that we are in fact living through a national crisis of governance and that our discourse on such an important subject is in danger of degenerating into a political slinging match.

There is a broadly felt view, for example, that many of our institutions have been overly politicised, that there has been an altogether unacceptable sequence of corruption scandals, that the Panama Papers revelations have not been dealt with in a way that has brought closure and that property development is occurring at a frenetic pace without adequate planning or consideration of its environmental impact.

There are four broad reasons that we feel this crisis of governance needs to be addressed forthwith if the country is to rise to the challenges it faces in the years ahead. First, and most fundamentally, the values of good governance mentioned above are now part of our identity as a nation State, and as a member of the EU.

Any subversion, distortion or abandonment of them is intrinsically troubling and makes us less true to ourselves.

Second, when politicians promise good governance and fail to deliver it, the damage done runs perniciously deep. It reduces people’s faith in the country’s institutions, and it makes them more cynical and less inclined to behave for the public good.

Third, in the particular case of Malta, one aspect of good governance, the proper stewardship of our physical environment, is at the same time more problematic and more urgent than for most other countries. With a population density that is not only the highest in the EU but more than 10 times higher than the EU average, land is our scarcest resource, and its optimal use for the public good our most pressing challenge.

The governance of our land use must therefore combine high-level strategic thinking and planning with detailed, well-thought-out policies rigorously enforced at the granular level. It must ensure the effective protection and preservation of our rapidly dwindling natural spaces and the enlightened and well-considered development of our built environment.

Successive governments have not done enough in this regard, but recent years have seen a preoccupying weakening, dismantling or abandonment of previous, already far too modest safeguards and the accentuation of a damaging ‘anything goes’ mentality.

Fourth, good governance is now also critical for the survival of one of the central pillars that our economy is built around. Malta has positioned itself successfully on the international market as a centre for financial and other services. It has managed to do this, to the great benefit of the local economy, because over the course of many years it developed a robust and innovative regulatory capacity, and painstakingly built up a reputation as a clean and serious jurisdiction, a good place to do business in the EU.

In the world of finance, trust is built over many years, but it can be lost in a matter of days. If the limited international airtime that Malta gets is dominated by corruption scandals and perceived failures of governance, this sustained success may be jeopardised.

While the entire political class has clear responsibilities in promoting good governance, government has a crucial and primary role to play in this regard. Good governance must be manifest in everything it does and must always be seen to be promoting and adhering to the highest possible standards. Any lowering of standards by the government itself will be interpreted as a signal that new, lower standards are acceptable for all.

Our country and the EU we form part of face uncertain times ahead, and Malta will soon assume the presidency of the Council at a particularly sensitive time for the Union as a whole. Put simply, we need to be at our very best.

The Today Public Policy Institute calls on the government and on the entire political class to address this crisis of governance and to engage proactively in a respectful, healthy debate about how we can collectively raise and maintain our national standards.

Martin Scicluna writes on behalf of the board of the Today Public Policy Institute