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Apart from the Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s monthly ‘controlled’ press briefing, our Premier has been having a whale of a time with the media. His communications coordinator told one of MaltaToday’s journalists that the OPM would like to see ‘a more disciplined and organised media.’ In other words a media that acts like my next door neighbour’s toy poodle.
There have countless comments by Dr Gonzi not least the one that makes one’s tummy ache with pain from laughter. When touring a German company with a mere two dozen workers he said that when he next sits with Chancellor Schroeder he will ask him to visit this particular factory to see for himself what ‘we can do in Malta!’
Needless to say, either Dr Gonzi had nothing substantial to say during this press briefing, or else the man is taking Chancellor Schroeder for someone with plenty of time on his hands.
Now for the European elections and the fact that Dr Gonzi still believes that a vote for the PN candidates is a vote for consistency and Europe. In other words voting for the other candidates is a sacrilege.
When these words are repeated ad nauseam I get these hallucinations of David Casa flanked by his friend Mr Andre Carbonaro, the disgraced former member in the Austin Gatt secretariat, campaigning for a one way ticket to Brussels.
There is no doubt that Mr Casa has a very good chance of getting himself elected in the next elections. His high profile on Radio 101, standing in as the PN’s Manwel Cuschieri and propaganda spokesman for the Pietà clan, has earned him many points from the moribund listeners who like to see Labour and GWU top guys flogged.
Those who have worked with Mr Casa, and that includes me, know what Mr Casa is all about.
How the PN chose to have David Casa run for the EP beats me. One thing I am sure of is that if Mr Casa does find the electoral support to kick him upstairs from a bank clerk to an MEP, he will not be missing all the time he spent feeding 101’s moribund listeners trash and silly propaganda.
It will take some time before we realise that the European Union did not evolve just for the blue-eyed boys and girls, although the next four years will see most of the new posts in the EU being taken up mostly by PN boys and girls whether we like it or not.
The first experience of what Europe really stands for was surely experienced by the newly-appointed Commissioner Joe Borg, who faced some serious grilling from the European Parliament.
Dr Borg showed some serious cracks when it came to looking beyond the spyglass of the Maltese technocrat cum studious University lecturer he was. Dr Borg is a nice sort of guy, but when it comes to population control, women’s rights, and third world issues, the Pietà clan’s deeply insightful philosophical and ideological influence is going to be of little consequential help.
When it comes to issues related to abortion, someone like Joe Borg can only sigh and pray that the time for questioning is short and sweet.
He surely realises, in more ways than one, that the future of Europe is very distant to the parochial and insular God-fearing clientelist politics of Malta.
Next weekend will mark a memorable date for Malta. It is a pity that the feast is still seen by many to be a Nationalist fête.
When the artificial pyrotechnics and lights displays are over on 1 May, and everyone would have returned home a wee bit poorer, then we can all start breathing some fresh air and hope that things will change. Hats off to Government for having propagated such a ridiculous situation where the celebratory event organisers have had to make up for their financial shortfall to set up the celebrations by billing people for watching the event from the sea and public gardens.
When the smoke from 1 May finally blows away, the first cracks on our political and cultural mediocrity will start to appear.
Hopefully it will no longer only be the size of our four-wheel drives, the swimming pool, the ‘boat’ or the footprint of our villas that will count. Rather the fact that we are not simply an island but part of something bigger, a jigsaw in a puzzle that can make our lives more interesting and can make our future a far bigger and fulfilling experience.
But do we really wish for all this?
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