At the end of the summer break, European Union is facing a crowded agenda. For many, the predominant issue is Brexit. But in other areas too, decisions are urgently needed.
The latest developments in the Syrian civil war coupled to Turkey’s internal problems which have become more complex, will deepen the dilemmas that immigration has generated during the past two years in the EU. A coherent policy, or at least a method by which immigration can be dealt with coherently in coming months, still needs to be established. Nobody admits it, yet all countries involved are reviewing how to set up protective barriers, not least because there is fear that the agreement with Turkey will not hold.
Regarding terrorism the claims are that progress is being made. But the truth is that Europe remains vulnerable to further terrorist attacks.
Meanwhile questions that remain pending concern the future of the eurozone, the need for greater economic growth to generate more employment, the Ukraine situation, and the agreement with the US on trade and investment, TTIP.
Further complications follow from the precarious political situation that a number of the governments of member states find themselves in, while the discontent that started becoming evident with the approach of summer at the ineffectiveness of the European Commission, has still not abated.
***
Regulatory
Over the years, public administration has been loaded with corporations, agencies, companies, commissions and other bodies, some of which were executive in nature, others regulatory, while the remit of yet others was to monitor what was going on from the perspective of the public interest or that of individual citizens.
In this we followed the model of Western countries, in part to reduce as much as possible governments’ role in the economy, but also to ensure that public initiatives were being carried out under conditions of transparency and more stringent accountability.
Inevitably, these changes increased the overhead costs of the country’s administration.That would be acceptable if it led to a concrete improvement in such administration.
Honestly, I doubt whether this applies to Malta. Many of the regulatory agencies for instance, are always lagging behind the decisions they are supposed to monitor. Or it turns out that the resources they are supplied with to get on with their job are grossly inadequate.
***
Religious values
The argument was used recently in one of these ongoing controversies about contraception, abortion, euthanasia and the rest.
Before you and I can discuss what needs to be done, the claim on one side was, you need to tell me whether you are a Christian or not.
How interesting! If the discussion was about what was/is valid for Christians, one could understand that. But it related to what would fit society overall – a secular society that is, which includes citizens having different religious beliefs, including no belief at all.
So, the basis on which decisions have to be taken must be secular in scope. In discussing about them, the religious beliefs of participants are immaterial. To pretend otherwise, is another instance of the obscurantism that still prevails in Maltese society.