Only some two weeks ago, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso was on our own soil, in our own elected Parliament. His speech was short and factual, underlining Malta’s progress in various fields.
It was another certificate of success for our island, and for Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi himself, who led by example to improve the financial situation of Malta. Who knows how Mr Barroso felt when Opposition Leader Alfred Sant took the microphone and delivered his speech.
His crowd was not a mass of Labour supporters with red flags, but the highest representative of the EU, the same institution that he and his party begged the Maltese electorate to keep Malta out of. The same institution that he now says he accepts but, surely after the last speech, there is no solid basis for future relations between the EU and the next Labour government. Mr Barroso was told that Labour will be in government next time around, with Dr Sant forgetting that the Maltese have yet to vote him in – or out, again.
Keeping on the same thin rope, twisting and turning all the time, is a difficult act even for an acrobat, let alone for an entire party. It is off and on again on different issues including the EU, the church and irregular migrants, which seem to have been muddled up, all in one speech. The aim of attracting votes at any cost is so entrenched that it blurs any kind of vision.
How does a floating voter, or a pale red voter, who likes what the EU has in prospect for Malta, go about this dilemma of choosing his next government? Surely after such a speech, one does get an indication that what was gained will be lost by putting a number one next to a Labour candidate in the next election.
Talking about visions, I did hold my breath on the vision the Labour Party has for tourism. Much seems to rely on getting 1.6 million tourists. Who does not want 1.6 million tourists? But one must give more details. When will these 1.6 million come? From which countries? Will there be a better spread over the year? How long will they stay? What is the type of holiday we are marketing?
Blurting out a statement like this would do much more harm than good, as its backing is void of proper thinking and planning. Nothing is spelt out. The line of ideas jotted down, as I do on a Sunday morning to prepare myself for the following week, do not hold water.
What are the incentives to the hotelier who pulls down his hotel, and who is going to pay? How much will the taxpayer have to bear?
Hot on the trail of the private public partnership on the Mellieha retirement home, up comes the idea of Maltese people spending their winter in a hotel. It talks of a winter break, although more sensibly it should talk of wintering in a hotel. What scheme will a Labour government churn out? What cost, what rates to hotels? Will hotels be forced to accept? These questions all remain unanswered.
The third out of the 15-pointer vision talks of a car park. Do I remember correctly that the Labour Party pledged to stop talks about a new car park in Sliema? So, in the same island, maybe a few kilometres away, there are two solutions for the same issue, both taken to please voters. But, again, is this voter so naive?
A fourth point is the identification of sites to be passed on to entrepreneurs. Here again, I heard no NGO or association, so used to hearing their own voice, express any concern about which sites are going to be given away, where these sites are, and at what price. A far cry from some other examples, where even marches are organised. Are people so blind to such an attitude? Are these NGOs and associations so politically biased that not even a whisper is let out, lest we say something against our beloved red party?
I will not ridicule this vision. This vision is a big worry to everyone who has tourism at heart. There is no proper planning on such ideas, and that must worry all the people who work in this trade. These are not solutions, but just points jotted down, seemingly at random.
I would rather stay in my stable government which implements, rather than speaks, about visions. And you?
Robert Arrigo is a Nationalist MP