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The Secretary General of the Nationalist Party has been ragged by every Tom, Dick and Harry ever since he let slip in an newspaper interview that his party’s vision for Malta is to transform it into a Centre for Excellence within three years. Clearly such an achievement is beyond the powers of anybody other than the Almighty for whom nothing is impossible.
So why has Joe Saliba promised to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear? My guess is that he was sincere. He is aiming to achieve excellence by his own standards. In three years’ time the country may have a better appearance. There will be a few mega projects completed and some ribbons for his ministers to cut. Hopefully the roads will be in better shape and several people will be involved in EU projects.
Perhaps we will be able to claim that we are gaining on the waste issue and quite probably we will be treating most of our waste water. In other areas the commitments we have undertaken on EU accession will allow us a better service from professionally staffed government entities. Compared to what we have so far, Joe Saliba may be able to claim to have achieved excellence.
Having claimed exclusive rights over Malta’s entry into the EU, the PN will demand all the merit. NET TV will air documentary after documentary showing the improvements made under the firm hand of our new Great Leader as ably guided by his Secretary General. Many will be only too glad to accept that version of history and be adamant in their support of Saliba’s version of excellence.
It is more of the same, the same mistake we have constantly repeated for decades. Nothing could be clearer in the days when Malta’s fortieth Independence Anniversary is being celebrated. After 40 years, it is still not a National Day but only a Nationalist Day. The PN claim all the glory because the MLP have always given it the cold shoulder. It never suited the MLP to allow the PN merit so they have consistently criticized Independence as a sham.
The MLP have their own little celebrations disguised as National Days: Republic Day and Freedom day. Their thesis that Independence was not independence is confirmed by their two-stage completion of the process: severing connection with the British monarch and ending the British military presence. In 40 years the institutional requirements of the other two parties have prevented any mutual consensus on these issues.
We have no national days, only political party national holidays which rub salt into the wounds at every recurrence. The current celebrations by the PN, overwhelming any official ceremony marking the event, are aimed at rekindling Nationalist fervour but only serve to exclude all others. It is a repeat of the recent EU accession extravaganza when only the PN’s nearest and dearest were invited to celebrate. The Greens were personae non gratae and the founder of the European Movement was not invited to the Barrakka reception which was reserved for the PN and friends.
We can look forward to the creation of a world centre of parochial excellence: Malta the navel of the earth and the PN at the centre of the navel. It probably brings tears to Joe Saliba’s eyes to think of it. It makes many others weep and laugh hysterically.
Will nothing ever change? Will the PN preserve Malta’s provinciality and parochialism forever? For the Nationalist core joining the EU was motivated by the need to secure guarantees that any time they spend in opposition will not be a repeat of the 70s and 80s. It was a plan to prevent a return of the past more than to secure the unfolding of a future.
Without the self-immolation of the Greens in the 2003 elections, there would have been no EU accession for Malta, no PN government and not even the possibility of Joe Saliba promising to wave his magic wand. The 9.3 percent result for the Green in 2004 are the proof, if any were needed. Further confirmation is the hermetic exclusion of Greens from the PN media ever since. God forbid that anybody should be reminded of the Greens’ assistance and the PN’s thanks.
Greens ran the course with the PN knowing that the PN was committing a back-to-the-future exercise. As far as we were concerned, the PN was joining the EU for the wrong reasons. It did not matter. The future would disregard the PN and happen anyway.
Malta is not the navel of the earth. It never will be. It is extremely unlikely that it will ever be a centre of excellence of any kind. It is unique and its greatest asset is its uniqueness. It will be forever at the extreme periphery of the EU but it enjoys the outstanding privilege of being also at the centre by having its representatives seated at the tables of decision-making. No other 400,000 strong cohort of the 450 million EU population enjoys such a privilege. No speck of land covering a mere 315 square kilometres anywhere across the continent wields such influence.
We should exploit it wisely and to the full. Yes, we should strive to achieve our maximum and when we get to the top of our mountain we should keep climbing as the Zen teachers recommend. We may not become a centre of excellence but we certainly do have every reason to hope that our cup can brim over.
At this point we have not started climbing. We have caught sight of the mountain and our heart fails us. There is a daunting climb ahead of us. For the next three years our task should be to ensure that we have all the equipment we need. At most we can hope to tackle some of the foothills. Joe Saliba’s helicopter ride to the peak is simply fantasy.
It would be a stunning achievement if, in the next three years, despite the enormous challenge of taming the deficit and major socio-economic reforms we get the existing system to work properly.
It would be little short of a miracle if we can get the country to look clean let alone to end the slide to extinction of the countryside. It will be miraculous if we have respectable law enforcement levels and better still, widespread compliance. Increasing productivity and economic competitiveness in every sector without wrecking what is left of life quality for employees is absolutely necessary. We need above all else a smooth interface between the public service and the public including an efficient and just judicial system.
None of this will make Malta excellent. It will make Malta infinitely better than it is. At that point we can think of climbing higher still. We will not get there by excluding half the country. Crowing in delight that the MLP continues to shun Europeanness is a recipe for failure. Joe Saliba and the PN core may find Alfred Sant’s persistent aversion to EU membership a saving grace for themselves. It is a major threat to us all.
Unless we can be galvanised into accepting the challenge, we stand to miss the millennial opportunity presented by EU membership.
Maintaining PN exclusivity on the EU membership venture will reduce or eliminate our chances of achieving the minimum target of making Malta function properly.
We cannot hope to win if half the country lags behind, dragging its feet because it knows that its efforts will be exploited in claiming a victory for the PN. The exclusive PN Independence celebration is an anachronism. It is anti-history. It denies the mental change that should have taken place on EU accession. It makes nonsense of the European vision of the Nationalist Party. The PN is unable to allow the country to be Maltese let alone to foster the national identity with a foundation stone for participation in the wider social, political and economic union. Paradoxically it may be the PN that will turn this millennial opportunity into an epochal disaster.
To survive, to have a faint hope in the next elections, it must claim credit for any benefit of EU membership that may accrue in the interim. It is not in the interest of the PN to share the merit, to give credit where credit is due, nor to encourage participation. It has no interest in coaxing the MLP into cooperation because at that point it will not be possible to panic voters at election time. If it makes no difference to our national mountain climb, if we are forging ahead together, we may feel free to vote for anyone we like. The PN is scared stiff of consensus politics. As long as the PN puts itself before Malta we will not stand a chance in our EU venture. Happy Independence Day.
Dr Vassallo is Chairperson of Alternattiva Demokratika - The Green Party
harry.vassallo@alternattive.org.mt
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