“The European Union’s fundamental values are respect for human dignity and human rights, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law. These values unite all Member States.”
When Malta joined the EU in 2004, hopes were high for the future. In 2014, when Malta celebrated its first 10 years of membership, the changes were palpable, from the feeling of connectedness with Europe to improvements in the structure of the economy. The stability and credibility conferred by membership and the euro has made Malta economically safe and prosperous. Its civil rights record is an example to others.
But three years later, confidence in the country has been dashed. Two events have caused the picture to darken. In April 2016 the involvement of a minister and a senior official close to the Prime Minister in the Panama Papers scandal jolted local politics. Then, on October 16, the country was rocked to its foundations by the assassination of Malta’s leading investigative journalist.
Malta’s reputation has taken a battering. A long shadow has been cast over its democracy and rule of law. The debate in the European Parliament last week exposed deep concerns about its citizenship scheme, lack of police investigations over the Panama Papers and the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Malta’s respect for fundamental European values has come under the microscope and been found wanting. Our democratic values and institutions appear to be under threat. A culture of lawlessness and corruption appears to permeate every aspect of our society in a spectrum which ranges from the law breaking seen daily on our roads to bribery, embezzlement, fraud and political abuse of power for private gain. Why?
The answer lies in the way politics is conducted. It starts with clientelism, nepotism and cronyism, then seeps into every pore of political life. The favouring of one person over another purely on grounds of political colour regardless of merit is the most pernicious and unscrupulous form of corruption. It is where corruption in Malta begins.
It has led to the stage where even one’s vote has become a commodity for sale. Politicians accept without demur that to get elected they will have to satisfy individual requests for favours. The politician is complicit in a bribe by his constituent. Neither bats an eye. It leads to a gullible electorate becoming more mistrustful of politicians and jaundiced with politics, and the widespread acceptance among businessmen and construction magnates that funding political parties is the only way to wield influence over public policy and decision making.
Thus maladministration, misgovernment and corruption have become the rule rather than the exception. They lead to a loss of trust in the public institutions of the State, weakening not only our faith in good governance but also the reputation of the country, especially in financial services, where probity is key.
We need a change of culture. And there can be no solutions to social and political problems that do not involve civil society exercising active citizenship in pursuit of civic values and the common interest. The strength of citizens as individuals must in future act as a counterweight to vested political and corporate interests and strive to promote institutional accountability.
It is imperative to rebuild political trust. But, fundamentally, to succeed, our institutions must be strong. The Constitution represents the bedrock of democratic governance and the rule-book regulating the governing institutions. The long-promised Convention on the Constitution must be established immediately, under the leadership of a respected, independent-minded person of calibre and experience, to report within 12 months on proposed changes, and with political parties allowing civil society to take the helm. This reform is fundamental to everything else.
The efficient, effective administration of justice is essential to any successful democracy. Malta has a long tradition of jurisprudence and judicial oversight. It has excellent lawyers and, on the whole, the judiciary, through its independence, and the rule of law have sought to be bastions of liberty and justice. But these have now come under scrutiny with the position of the Commissioner of Police increasingly called into doubt.
All Member States fall short of EU ideals. But is Malta’s European identity just a facade? Do our European pretensions actually form part of our DNA? The fact that these questions need to be asked is an indictment of how far we have slipped from the European values that the nation ought to measure itself by.