For most people on these islands, the bizarre goings-on within the European Parliament and Malta International Airport in connection with the Individual Investor Programme (IIP) smack of acute political hypocrisy on the part of the two Opposition MEPs, Roberta Metsola and David Casa, and their leader and former MEP himself, Simon Busuttil.

While some may think it is hard to comprehend, let alone explain, their anti-Malta stance, there are some very obvious reasons why they have had to resort to such dirty tactics that the neutral observer can interpret as actually a case of two-timing one’s own country.

Still incredibly smarting from the trauma of a humiliating electoral result just a few months ago, the Nationalists have been further left in the lurch by a new and enterprising government that has already successfully injected new blood into the economy, reduced the financial deficit, boosted employment, won back the trust of the credit agencies and started the process of seriously tackling problems such as poverty and social exclusion inherited from the previous administration.

To say that Busuttil et al are caught in a conundrum is an understatement. They know that economic achievements bring social and political stability, hence, any exciting and innovative projects that the new Labour administration comes up with is bound to keep them in the doldrums.

So rather than going for the option of supporting the democratically-elected government in its unstinting efforts to attract more foreign investment to our shores, they went for obstructionism at local and European fora.

It is a tactic that is bound to boomerang on their political aspirations for the Maltese people, credited by one and all as a hard-working, industrious nation, do not tolerate anyone seeking to undermine their livelihood, wherever it comes from and whoever foots the bill for it.

Two-timing the nation is an insult any day of the week but especially so at a time when this very nation is this year celebrating some of its more important historic milestones.

National unity, however, has never really entered the Nationalist psyche, new leader or no new leader.

Busuttil seems to be purposely overlooking the possibility of co-authoring a new chapter in Maltese politics and seems set on sticking to old-style politics that have caused nothing but irreparable damage to our nation’s fabric.

It is a lost opportunity for those many genuine Nationalist supporters who pine for a change in style and tactics and who have openly acknowledged Labour’s success, especially under Joseph Muscat, at re-inventing itself after whole decades of self-doubt and electoral lapses.

Rather than pushing his MEPs into insisting on the mention of their own country in the European Parliament resolution, Busuttil would have done better had he shown he does not feel his political future is threatened by the success of the IIP programme.

However, he has only been throwing tantrums over its perceived European dimension, which is still obviously restricted by openly and officially declared deductions that it is an issue within the competence of the governments of member states.

National unity has never really entered the Nationalist psyche

The PN leader may have found some solace in the bosom of ideological friends like European Commissioner Viviane Reding, whose personal entourage once included Metsola, but, at the national level, he has found himself helplessly swimming in a sea of approval for the government’s novel way of doing things to help revitalise the economy.

While he has, in the past, defended other countries from getting singularly mentioned in EP resolutions, Busuttil has preferred to resort to the old business of two-timing when it came to his own. This is, as many in Malta and Gozo so well remember, in complete contrast to Labour and its MEPs when in Opposition.

The way European Commissioner Tonio Borg was appointed, with the backing and unity of all Maltese MEPs on the eve of a looming general election, is testimony to political maturity and national pride.

Sadly, both are missing in Busuttil et al’s cupboard.

joseph@josephcuschieri.com

Joseph Cuschieri is a Labour MEP.