The budget debate, which was launched with much aplomb, is now behind us, and its echoes have already fizzled out. Once again, members of parliament find themselves with their noses to the grindstone.

It is clear to one and all that, as a new year approaches, the spectre of the next general election will loom larger on the horizon. From then on, it will be a long, hard slog.

From the perspective of the Nationalist Party, the focus will be on Malta’s bright prospects within the fold of the European Union. Government supporters will be encouraged by the promise of distant gains.

But the way forward, in the immediate months to come, will involve instant pain.

The Malta Labour Party has drawn a line in the sand and is determined to concentrate on an elaborate programme, drawn up in consultation with civil society, to resuscitate the economy.

For its part, the MLP will give greater attention to bread and butter issues. It claims that the performance of the economy during the last few years has been at best sluggish and at worst worrying, with menacing clouds still looming on the horizon.

Halfway point

Considering that we are more than halfway through this legislature, electoral considerations will predominate. All of this will be complicated by the fact that the Gonzi administration has erred its way into a number of minefields relating to gross mismanagement and abuse of power – attributable, by many, to Dr Gonzi’s decision to retain a tired team on taking over the Prime Ministership.

This latter issue will become more demanding of a solution, as the weeks flash by, and the electoral drums beat more insistently.

Agitation within the Nationalist ranks on this score has been gaining momentum, but the jockeying by interested competitors could not be concealed. While it lasts, it distracts attention and tends to sap the strength of the Nationalist Party, as the tourist sector continues to struggle for survival, and as more episodes featuring ministerial arrogance antagonise more voters.

Malta’s predicament

This problem will not go away and it is pointless to pretend it isn’t there.

It will become increasingly exasperating because the developing economic situation demands maximum concentration.

When one removes the politi-cal froth from the last budget, the end of this year will see Malta’s debt burden peaking closely to Lm1,400 million, to which is attached a yearly debt servicing bill exceeding Lm77 million. The government continues to spend more than it earns in revenue. Its convergence obligations do not give it any leeway.

Perhaps, worst of all, a punitive and confiscatory level of taxation has been eating into the purchasing power of the working population and is leading to the drying up of the wells that keep the economic engine going and business humming.

The government cannot wriggle out of this predicament simply by referring to Labour’s past – real or imaginary. The electorate wants relief. The emancipated segment of the electorate, which is a growing force, goes further. It demands explanations for gross PN mismanagement during the long years of uninterrupted, money-no-problem Nationalist governance.

As many of those who have lost out and have been set back come from the natural constituency of the Nationalist Party, the Government suffered a significant loss of support in all four electoral consultations held since the last general election.

This has severely dented Dr Gonzi’s halo and made him feel distinctly uncomfortable, and sometimes unduly edgy in his niche.

PN grassroots concern

This is why there is concern at the PN grassroots level.

The sheep that looked up and were not fed have strayed far away from the flock. Can they be wooed back by more promises? Will the lost sheep respond to the siren calls of those who let them down, simply on the grounds that the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t?

This time around, it is not political partisanship and traditional party affiliations that will rule the roost.

Civil society has started to come into its own, and may very well tip the scales. It is concerned with the politics of right and wrong, environmental concerns and with bread and butter issues.

The focus will be on the here-and now and the immediate future – not with the fanaticism and narrow mindedness of yesteryear.

The next general election will be a national maturity test. It will be a test of leadership. There will be no rest for the weary. The weary will not survive.

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