Dr Arnold Cassola, in a recent opinion piece, applauded the way the Greens, one of the minor parties of the Italian coalition government, had coerced the government into doing its biddings or else... No wonder that the Prodi government is so unstable and is expected to fall every day. Your correspondent is asking us not to let either the Nationalist Party or the Labour Party dominate our Parliament but instead to let the Greens exercise control over them. He insists that we join our neighbours in becoming the laughing-stock of Europe.

Many European countries coalition governments are going through rough times because of continuous feuding within the partners and the continuous blackmail by minor parties. As a result governments are weak and parliamentary work is limited.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is under fire from its own ranks because, not to annoy her coalition partner, she is accused of failing to fulfil her party’s electoral programme. Political deadlock still grips Belgium. Other countries like Denmark and now Switzerland are in the same bewilderment. Governments formed of many parties do not make their full term in office. They just fall after a short time of being formed or just stay in office and have their parliamentary work limited. Political instability is a reality that faces every country where minor parties have leverage or control in the formation of governments.

In my opinion our neighbour Italy, with 61 governments, has the record for the number of governments formed since the end of the Second World War – an average of one government per year.

Realising that this farce cannot go on, Italy’s major parties have put aside their differences and are trying to agree to a voting system that replaces the present one that puts major parties at ransom by a tiny coalition partner/s, with an alternative system that brings political stability by eliminating weak coalitions.

The two major parties, the Democratic Party presently led by Romano Prodi, and the People of Freedom Party led by Silvio Berlusconi, have finally realised the benefits of moving closer to the two party system instead of the present one which has brought instability, incredibility and non governance.

Both leaders have experienced great difficulties when heading coalition governments. Presently, Prodi’s government cannot make a move because it is being controlled by the small radical groups. In a rare show of consensus, that surely has worried the minor groups who often hold the keys to forming a government, they hailed the new bipolarism as more constructive than the present right/left divide that replaced the post-war Christian Democrat hegemony.

Now here in Malta we have people like your correspondent who are determined to end the present two party system, always hoping that his party will have leverage or control in the formation of a next government. This will bring us in line with other countries where political instability has forced many governments to collapse every few months or where weak and ineffective governments are the order of the day.

In a few weeks or months the Maltese will be voting for a new government to run the country for the next five years. The Maltese electorate should beware and learn from other nations’ problems. It would be madness for the Maltese to change the present two party system which has worked so well with one that can only bring havoc and instability just for the sake of change. It would be even worst if we change the present government under which Malta has prospered beyond expectations just for the sake of change.

Carmel Camilleri

Paola