It may be a “European” election, but to all intents and purposes the parties’ campaigns have to date been grounded in purely domestic issues.
Starting with billboards about water and electricity bills, and culminating in Joseph Muscat’s press conference yesterday urging voters to “send a message to the government”, all sides appear to have forgotten that Saturday’s vote also serves to elect five (maybe six) MEPs to Brussels and Strasbourg.
In a sense, this was all along to be expected. For one thing, many ordinary voters still feel that the European Parliament – crucial as it may be to EU administration – is far removed from their everyday concerns. For another, the prospect of an election which means a lot to the parties themselves, without actually jeopardising the political balance of power, provides the perfect opportunity to vent one’s frustration or disgruntlement with one’s own traditional party of choice.
In fact this is precisely how the campaign has unfolded in practically all other European states. In the UK, the election has been overshadowed by the recent MP expenses scandal. In Spain, by soaring levels of unemployment and the government’s bid to further liberalise abortion laws. In Italy, the main issue appears to be (of all things) Silvio Berlusconi’s private life.
So perhaps it should come as no surprise that here in Malta, domestic issues like utility bills, the cost of healthcare and above all immigration would be seized upon by a hungry Opposition to underscore a widespread sense of disillusionment with the government.
And yet, there is something almost cynical and calculated about PL leader Joseph Muscat’s approach to these same issues. It is almost as though he has scoured the surveys to identify the general public’s most urgent concerns – Labour and Nationalist supporters alike – but instead of proposing serious alternative solutions, he has limited his public outbursts to simply hammering the government over its failure to solve the seemingly insoluble.
A few examples. In recent days, Joseph Muscat has produced a document, supposedly discussed at Cabinet level, which floats the idea of introducing charges on medical services provided by the State. It was a carbon copy of the pre-election strategy used by Alfred Sant last March (and in a sense, Lawrence Gonzi brought it upon himself by responding with a rash promise to keep healthcare free, no matter what.)
Muscat may well score crucial political points by accusing Gonzi of misleading the public. But the sad truth of the matter is both sides are being deceptive here: Gonzi, by promising the impossible, when he knows only too well that the State simply can’t afford such luxury without cutting back on other essential services in other departments; and Muscat, by declaring that the government “intends” to introduce such fees, when all it did in reality was discuss a report, compiled by members of the medical profession, in which this idea was fleetingly suggested.
But neither side has yet come up with a serious, plausible and viable strategy on how it intends to guarantee free health for all, in a country which faces serious financial problems.
The other bone of contention is irregular immigration. Few would deny this poses several problems locally, but to describe the issue – as Muscat has repeatedly done – as a “national crisis” is singularly irresponsible.
A dispassionate assessment of the figures concerned – 12,000 immigrants in total, of whom almost half have already been deported – reveals that the problem is already under some form of control... even if things could always be managed slightly better.
But in his eagerness to capitalise on the issue, Muscat appears to have forgotten the levels of ill-feeling currently directed at immigrants in our country. His use of language has at times bordered on the downright inflammatory... although to be fair, in his recent speeches Muscat appears to have been more careful in his choice of words.
As on the health issue, however, the Labour Party has so far failed to produce any credible alternative strategies to those already in place. Talk of “threatening Europe with vetoes” might be music to the electorate’s ears; but in fact Malta has already resorted to this strategy before, with only debatable levels of success. Likewise, posturing about “putting the message across to Europe” is precisely the kind of populist babble that doesn’t cut very much ice in Europe... and few should know this better than Muscat himself, who after all has served as an MEP for four years.
The sad truth is that our country’s current levels of political discourse have remained woefully immature. On health, we must acknowledge that the doctors and nurses who drew up the above-mentioned report know far more about the issue than Joseph Muscat ever will. And on immigration, we stand to gain far, far more by presenting Europe with a united front on what is after all a national (not a Nationalist) cause for concern.
After all, opposition is all well and good... but opportunism is something else altogether.
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