Interview • February 1 2004

Defending the ordinary folk

Next June Joseph Muscat faces the electoral test for the first time. He argues for a change in mentality and says unemployment is worse now because people have higher expectations

By Kurt Sansone

Joseph Muscat does not display any outward sign of bitterness at the Labour Party’s decision to reconsider holding renewed elections to increase the number of European Parliament election candidates.
He insists the four candidates chosen by the Labour Party general conference in November last year to contest the EP elections have decided not to comment about the issue.
"For the sake of fair play John (Attard Montalto), Glenn (Beddingfield), Louis (Grech) and myself have decided not to express ourselves on the issue. Many delegates ask us what we think, but we tell them to make their own decision and whatever the party decides is alright with us."
That’s as far as the discussion on the forthcoming MLP general conference goes.
I meet Mr Muscat at the Labour headquarters in Hamrun. His young looks betray the political animal inside.
Mr Muscat harbours no illusion that come June the Labour Party will be facing a difficult task to convince its own die hard supporters to go out and vote in the European Parliament elections. But he insists it is in the interest of working families to have the Labour Party representing them in the European Parliament.
"Our presence in the European Parliament should not be viewed in isolation. We will form part of the Socialist group with which the Labour Party shares a common ideal: that of defending workers’ rights," Mr Muscat says.
He then speaks of a port worker from Cottonera who changed his decision not to vote in the upcoming EP elections after the rejection by the Parliament of new regulations to liberalise port-related services.
"If it weren’t for the Socialist group in the European Parliament that voted against the regulations proposed to liberalise the job of port workers, all port workers around Europe including Malta would have seen their income slashed dramatically. He told me that he wanted to be certain that when the issue comes up for discussion once again the Maltese representatives will be there to defend his job. It is in the workers’ interest to have somebody in Brussels defending their interest and if it is not us Labourites who will it be?"
Mr Muscat attributes the coolness of Labour voters to the different position adopted by the party over the EU issue.
"Let’s be clear, we were never an anti-European party like Austria’s far right Freedom Party led by Jeorg Haider. We believed the best option for Malta was partnership, but now the people have decided and it is useless re-visiting that decision. But, yes, there are those who find it difficult to understand this new development."
Muscat then draws parallels with the controversy that raged over the Delimara power station when it was first built. "The party had objected to the power station being sited there and time proved us right because it has spoilt the area and we still have to rely on the Marsa power station. But now that Delimara is up and running, should we demolish it and use oil lamps instead of electricity?"
Mr Muscat argues that once the country is an EU member it should strive to make the best out of the experience. However, he has a word of caution for those who voted in favour of membership believing the EU will serve as a watchdog on Maltese politicians. "Reality will prove that now more than ever the country needs good governance. If Malta’s membership is to be a success it will not depend on Brussels, it’s going to depend on us, our politicians and our leaders."
In an election where all of Malta will be considered to be one district, why should Nationalist voters switch to Labour?
"Because we are better negotiators," Mr Muscat shoots back. "We can get a better deal and our interests are those of the common people."
He defines the common people as those who pay all their taxes and are working for the well-being of their family. "These are quiet people who do not attend mass meetings. They are the silent majority. We will defend their interests by stamping our feet where necessary and by saying ‘no’ if the need arises. We at Labour are no ‘yes men’."
Mr Muscat talks positively of the breach in the euro stability pact by France and Germany. "For Malta this is good news because we can use this as a precedent to demand more flexibility when the need arises in other areas where EU-wide regulations could harm our small economy. If flexibility becomes an accepted norm in the EU we should do all we can to take full advantage of this," he states.
Although individual candidates have already started their respective campaigns for the June elections, electioneering has not started in earnest. The elections are also important in another way, as political analysts will dissect the numbers and interpret the results as a sign of approval or rebuttal of government policies.
But Mr Muscat is wary of reading too much in the result. He argues the shape of elections has not yet been determined by the parties.
"I am of the opinion that the June elections should be fought on the basis of who is best poised to represent the interests of the country and of the man in the street."
Jobs and dignity will be Labour’s rallying call for the EP elections as spelt out in the slogan; Xoghol, Harsien, Dinjita (Work, Care, Dignity). But Joseph Muscat believes the main theme is change.
He clarifies: "We need to change systems that may have worked for some time in the last 16 years but are now rusty. We need to change our post-colonial mentality. Many people look at the EU as if the queen was coming back to Malta; instead of milking funds from the queen we will be milking funds from the EU. This is not the case and this is a mentality we have to change. When the finance minister announced the budget last year it transpired that the net balance in favour of Malta will only be some Lm3 or Lm4 million.
"We have to give investors good reason to come here rather than Germany or any other EU member state. Government expenditure has to be controlled effectively. The time has come to consider alternative sources of funding for public projects.
"Last week I had a discussion with a Labour MP from Britain and he explained to me that government was adopting a pilot project involving the private sector in the building of schools. The system works similar to car leasing where government leases the property from the private sector and leaves more funds to be spent on educational material, books and student development. Should we consider similar projects?"
That question is quickly followed by a statement: "This government has a big problem: a lack of creativity."
Mr Muscat romps on about simple things that can benefit the country. "In Kuala Lumpur Malaysia only 100 people per day are allowed to visit the Petronas Towers. The only importance they have is that they are the tallest buildings in the world and we have the world’s oldest free standing structures in our midst and there is no control on the number of tourists who visit. Is it possible that the heritage park was only dreamt of now?
"One of the tourist attractions in Portugal is a cross on the farthest western outpost of the country declaring that Europe ends there. Aren’t we capable of creating something similar in Marsaxlokk as Europe’s farthest southern point and say that Europe stops here?
Government needs to be creative."
The issue of unemployment cannot escape us. "In some ways the current spate of job losses are related to EU membership, but in other ways they are not. I am not going to say EU membership is the cause of all unemployment. But I am certain of one thing: that government has to shoulder a lot of the responsibility for the current situation. If the Nationalist Party wants to take credence for job creation over the past years logic dictates that it must also shoulder responsibility for unemployment."
Mr Muscat says government has concentrated solely on EU membership and ignored the issue of competitiveness over the past few years. "The warning light had long been flashing, but it was ignored. Now not only is the light flashing but it is permanently on and we are slowly moving towards a standstill."
Criticism is easy to dish out and I ask Joseph Muscat for some concrete proposals. He talks of that much-reviled ‘disease’: bureaucracy.
"The recent issue about the foreign company that wanted to open a production facility for electric vans and was hampered by bureaucracy hurt me. Over a four year period it was going to employ between 400 and 500 people. It didn’t open shop and not because of our wages because they knew what workers are paid. Our education and EU membership were not issues. The reason it has not started functioning, at least for now, is because its application was hampered by bureaucracy.
"I used to work in the area of foreign investment attraction. A company that employs so many people is a one-off and it hurts all the more to know that we are to blame for them not deciding to choose Malta."
The future lies with smaller companies specialising in particular areas, Mr Muscat opines. But he insists: "We have to determine what skills are required to attract such small industries. We have to make sure that in five years’ time we will not find ourselves in a similar situation where those losing their jobs are mainly 20 year olds without the necessary skills to be flexible."
Mr Muscat points out the stark reality that most of those made redundant recently left school a mere four to five years ago. "It is worrying to know that after 16 years in school they left without any skill. These people were in school now, in our decade, not in the seventies or sixties."
And the crisis is now bigger than any before it, the Labour candidate argues. "In the sixties and seventies when the country experienced one of its biggest changes in terms of employment, people lost their jobs, but they knew how to tailor their living standard to reflect the situation. But today people’s expectations are high and NSO statistics show that people have more debts especially with banks.
"In 1994, for every Lm100 earned, Lm20 went to finance personal loans. In 2002 for every Lm100 of income, Lm46 went to finance loans and the figure is expected to rise to Lm50. If one looks at the foreclosures on property by banks the list is amazing. Being unemployed today is much harder than it was before."
I insist on proposals for job creation and his reply is very diplomatic. "We have to look at what other countries have done. They introduced wage and price freezes, but if one were to suggest something of the sort in Malta people would criticise the move as a throwback to the eighties and they would be described as socialist measures. Any agreement that has to be brokered would have to cover a period of time, I would see at least eight years. This means unions have to be ready to go slow on their demands for a number of years, employers have to commit themselves in not raising prices and government has to cut down its expenditure."
However, anybody who believes discussions will lead to an agreement that will see the country come out of the rut in a year or two is dreaming, Mr Muscat adds.
"The Labour Party was the first to point out that the country was facing a crisis. The famous hofra (financial hole) was an economic metaphor to describe the state of the country’s finances when Labour was elected to government in 1996. Nobody wanted to believe that we had a crisis at the time and it is only now that people are coming out of the denial stage. We are now eight years behind."