The news last week that the prime minister may not be leading the Nationalist Party into the next election is in its own way a sign of the times. Abroad, that would have caused a rush of decisions of a speculative nature, especially on the stock market. In Malta, it is an indication of the change that is bound to affect our society and in particular our economy in the 24 months to come.
There is an expectation of a changing of the guard in a number of institutions in this country and this would in turn generate change in other areas. Thus, the key leaders in our country could well be a set of new faces just months from now, persons who have gone through their apprenticeship in the last 15 years.
One may consider this to be a generational change similar to the one we had in the mid- to late-1970s. Then we had a very definite change of policies, mainly brought about by the closing down of the British military base and the subsequent loss of income from that base.
The Nationalist Party had moved towards the centre and left of centre of the political spectrum, edging the Malta Labour Party further towards the left. At that time, the Nationalist Party had come out for the first time with the proposal that Malta should join the European Union.
We had a change in the leadership of the Catholic Church in Malta, a change that signified an increased awareness of the social and economic problems that were starting to hit us and how these were affecting the population. We had an element of change in the trade union movement, again with the Confederation of Malta Trade Unions and the main organisations within it like the Union Haddiema Maghqudin the Malta Union of Teachers and the Malta Union of Bank Employees taking a more independent and aggressive stance and with the General Workers' Union edging ever closer to the Malta Labour Party, to the point that we had the so-called "fusion" between the two organisations.
On the other hand, I believe that the change that we shall be having in the coming months shall not bring so much a change of policies as much as a change in approach, a change in the way we shall be doing things. It will be a change that shall not be characterised primarily by the change of persons leading the various institutions in this country but will be a change that is essentially characterised by the impact of Malta's membership of the European Union.
It shall be a change that shall be driven more by rational, tangible, objective needs than by emotional, subjective, intangible needs. Issues like the economy, utility, health, safety and security shall be more important than issues like belonging, pride, status, recognition. The key indicator shall be performance and if something does not perform against a number of benchmarks (not just economic but also social and political), it will lose its relevance fast. The strategy shall be one of increased involvement, team- building, commitment, responsibility.
I believe that it will be the end of an era, spanning the last 16 years, during which time the players in the Maltese economy became fully aware of their potential. At this time, we started to realise a part of this potential and started to reap some of the benefits.
Two examples stand out. The fact that during the international economic slowdown, at a time when manufacturing companies were assessing where to locate their investment to maximise their profits, the major companies operating in Malta opted for an expanded operation in this country, is one example how we are managing to realise the potential of our economy.
The second example is the development of the cruise liner terminal. A great deal of groundwork had been done by the Malta Maritime Authority and the increase in the number of liners visiting Malta since the setting up of Viset (the operators of the terminal) has been nothing short of spectacular. There are many that believe that we could have achieved a lot more for the resources that have been invested; and they are probably right. However, a number of factors have come into play that did not allow for a better return on the effort we put in.
Today we are tending to underestimate the task we had in the late 1980s and are therefore taking the results we have achieved so far for granted. We should be fully appreciative of the advantages that we have been able to reap and take advantage of the fact that we are well placed to continue to reap from things like the developments in education and from the investment in the telecommunications infrastructure. However, this is why I also believe that the coming years must be a period when this economic potential that has been harnessed is realised to the full.
Whenever change happens, it is only natural that we look at people, at personalities. This time the people may change, the personalities may change, but what is most important is the recognition that we have a great opportunity to ensure that the economic future of this country is built on our current policies, fine-tuned to reflect the signs of the times.