Yesterday, the majority of the Maltese voted to elect five (or six) candidates who will represent the country in the European Parliament for the next five years. The results are not yet known, but it all points to a repeat of what happened in 2004, when Labour won three seats to the Nationalists’ two.

Like five years ago, the election for the EP came one year after the national polls, a period of time that is normally any government’s lowest point. Reforms are still half-baked, pre-election promises are still to be fulfilled and there is a general feeling that nothing is being done, in spite of the efforts that are made by the government to convince people that everything is flowing smoothly.

We had, in fact, a string of activities across the whole spectrum of ministries and parliamentary secretariats, which were aimed to show that the government is, after all, not asleep. Whether this has managed to push more Nationalists to go out and vote rather than stay at home is still to be known.

As such, the EP election, as well as that of local councils, offers the electorate the opportunity to protest against the government. Many choose to switch their vote, or not vote at all, just to keep the government on its toes. People know that the significance of their vote yesterday is nowhere near as important as the vote they cast in a general election, as the 8 March 2008 poll clearly showed.

The first year of the current administration is very similar to the first year of the previous Nationalist term in office. That time, Lawrence Gonzi had just taken over the leadership of both the PN and the government, but the change had not improved the Blues’ popularity. Subsequent losses in successive local council elections led many to believe Labour would have been returned to power, but ultimately it was Gonzi who won the proverbial war.

Whether this happened because of the Nationalists’ performance or Labour’s inability to provide a better alternative is a matter that is still debatable. What is sure is that Gonzi was given a second chance, but today he has found himself in a worse situation than he was when he took over from Eddie Fenech Adami.

The explosion of the price of oil on the international market last summer and, following that, the financial crisis that hit the globalised world have had a negative impact on the local economy. The slowdown that was experienced elsewhere has affected Malta too, with either a number of factories closing down or reducing their workforce, or going on four-day working weeks.

The Labour Party is having a field day, pointing out all the government’s deficiencies, one after the other, as they seek to convince the electorate that the change in their own leadership – incidentally Joseph Muscat is celebrating his first anniversary as leader of the PL – has brought about a new way of doing politics.

They have embarked on a campaign to demonise Lawrence Gonzi and anything he does, reminding many of the way the Nationalist Party had acted before the 1996 election with Alfred Sant. That time, it had backfired, and Labour had won.

Now Labour are telling us that Lawrence Gonzi has “lost control” in every sector – the environment, finances, health, education, the economy and more. They make it look as if he was the one who pushed the button for the price of oil to go up and for the world recession to start. The next thing they will say is that he is also responsible for the jellyfish invasion that we are experiencing this summer.

Labour’s mistake is twofold. First of all, they give as much importance to the EP election (and local councils too) as a national poll. It seems that past experiences have not made them understand the difference. Secondly, the general election they crave is four years down the line, and so many things would have changed by then. Again, they have 2008 to learn from, if they really want to.

They forget, or prefer not to remember, that it is only thanks to initiatives and difficult decisions taken by the Gonzi government, including the introduction of the euro, which Labour so strongly opposed, that the obstacles we are facing are not as high as they otherwise would have been. Labour does not acknowledge this, and the only thing they keep on reminding us about the euro is the malfunctioning ATM machine.

Just look at what happened and is happening in Iceland to get the picture of the disaster that would have befallen Malta were it not for its EU membership and the euro. They even sent a smaller contingent than they normally do to the Small Nations Games because of the crisis they are in, and now want to learn from Malta’s experience as they seek to build support for their EU membership.

I’m not saying everything is perfect. Far from it. But a government should be judged on its performance over five years, not on one.



scalleja@independent.com.mt