In one of the many speeches during this electoral campaign, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi was reported to have stated that his government has ruled out the privitisation of the national airline, Air Malta. Dr Gonzi was reported to have said “We need the guarantee of a national airline which is ours and not in the hands of someone who can decide to close it on any day and crush us”. He was also reported to have said that in order for Malta to be turned into a centre of excellence “…continuous accessibility to Europe and Africa was imperative”. (Gonzi rules out Air Malta privitisation – The Times, 21 February)

I am in complete agreement with Dr Gonzi and I am pleased to note his awareness and appreciation of the particular requirements of an island state on the periphery of Europe. However, I am afraid that such statements made on the eve of an election may be nothing more than a vote-catching strategy aimed at attracting the votes of the hundreds of Air Malta employees and their families. The credibility of this statement can be weighed against recent history concerning another company, Sea Malta, briefly outlined below.

Some years ago, the Nationalist government made an unequivocal statement singling out three companies to be shielded from privatisation as they were considered to be of strategic importance to Malta. These companies were Air Malta, Gozo Channel and Sea Malta.

The statement that the government will not privatise these three companies was not made in some speech somewhere taht it–tinda. Nor was it made in some television programme. Nor was it made preaching to the converted in a mass meeting. No, Sir! This statement was included in a solemn speech, commonly known as “speech from the throne”, which outlined the most important strategies, policies and commitments of the elected government, delivered by no less than President of the Republic in the House of Representatives on the occasion of the opening of Parliament of the 2003-2008 legislature.

Contrary to the government’s own declared policies, as everybody knows, one of these companies, Sea Malta is no longer around.

In fact, barely two years down the line, mockery was made of this solemn speech and contrary to its contents, Sea Malta was annihilated from the face of the earth. Having failed to sell the company (and, at least, getting some cash for the national coffers), the government opted to go for its liquidation. Thirty-three years of business and goodwill were awarded scot free to a foreign company; the vast shipping and maritime knowledge of 125 employees – many trained at the expense of public funds – flushed down the drain; and the company’s assets disposed of without real knowledge of what they were really worth.

Our only national shipping line – the one which ensured ‘… continuous accessibility to Europe…” correctly considered imperative by Dr Gonzi – has become a monopoly in the hands of a foreign company, or in the PM’s words, potentially “… in the hands of someone who can decide to close it on any day and crush us”. The PM must have remembered the many times shipping lines came and left, leaving industry in a lurch (with Sea Malta being there to mop up the mess) because “someone” in some boardroom far away, decided that Malta was not a good deal for the bottom line. Well, Sea Malta is no longer there to provide solace to the industry, and so I will not be surprised if the PM is having nightmares about such scenario hitting the airline sector.

In view of the above, it is therefore legitimate to question the weight of the PM’s statement with regards to the future of Air Malta. History and a track record of this government with regards to privatisations, as well as the government’s blatant turn-around on its own declarations, seriously dent Dr Gonzi’s credibility in this regard. I am convinced that Dr Gonzi never wanted to dispose of the national shipping line, for the same very valid reasons he said that he will not do so with the national airline. But facts show that what Prime Minister Gonzi wants may be overruled by other agendas.

I suppose that as long as we are regaled with ministers who, while publicly flirting with their PDAs, also publicly bet on who will lose their jobs next, I do not think that, notwithstanding Dr Gonzi’s statement, Air Malta employees or their families can sleep easy at night.

One down, two to go….

Marlene Mizzi

Rabat