Labour MEP Alfred Sant believes Malta’s political system is characterised by telenovelas, as policy differences between both major parties disappear.

In a stark assessment of the current political situation, he tells The Sunday Times of Malta in an interview today that the Labour Party had to become a centre-left party, rather than remain “left-centre”, for electoral exigencies post-2008.

This creates telenovelas

“Increasingly, the two parties have very similar policies. One way in which they can differentiate themselves is through the tribal system. This creates telenovelas,” Dr Sant says, referring to the Latin soap operas notorious for their overacting and strange plots.

On the Panama affair, the former prime minister resolutely sticks to a statement he made last month on his Facebook wall that Minister without Portfolio Konrad Mizzi should have resigned.

But he is blunt on the economy, saying it has been, for more than a decade, lurching “dangerously” towards reliance on services.

In some ways, his comments reflect the caution expressed by Finance Minister Edward Scicluna last week on the development boom: he spoke of the “supermarket” of large projects. Dr Sant describes the booming sectors of financial services and e-gaming as “footloose”, given their volatility. “Things will turn out really badly for an economy built this way when the downturn happens,” he says.