Bernard Busutil in The Malta Independent of the 25 May makes a joke of the various billboards that embellish our thoroughfares and arterial roads in the upcoming European Parliamentary elections. But the sentiment those billboards actually impart to any curious on looker is simply one of ridicule and disdain. Foreigners who happen to visit our country and know nothing about its vicissitudes would be excused to think that Lawrence Gonzi is once again in the fray and that his ambition of becoming an MEP has overcome that of being, as he is, the Prime Minister of this quaint, small country. Indeed one would be confused in figuring out how a Prime Minister of a Member State has all of a sudden become involved in the EU Parliamentary Elections – Gonzi tilef il-Kontroll. I would think that the propaganda machine in certain quarters has really gone awry.
Of course, we Maltese know that Gonzi is not contesting the Parliamentary elections. Therefore why has he become all of a sudden so vociferous as if this is the last election that he, as the Prime Minister and Leader of the Nationalist Party will ever contest? And then again why does Gonzi figure in an equation that simply eludes Pythagorean or Einstein’s mathematical solutions?
Equations talk of numbers and figures. The EU Parliament doesn’t. The European Parliament has nothing to do with the economic and employment situation in any Member State of the EU. So what are they trying to tell us? How is an election to the European Parliament which is, to put it mildly, only a talking shop in the whole spectrum of the EU Institutions, going to affect the employment situation in this small country? This is not to mention what sort of clout the five Maltese representatives carry with the 785 strong assembly of the European Parliament.
The “Testudo” formation in the billboards to which Bernard Busuttil refers is simply a refection of the sort of regiment or legion the Nationalist party has become. Nobody else has a voice. Only him, the Commander, the Dux – Lawrence Gonzi. This may also explain the “button pushing” exercise in this Nationalist Party billboard with the picture of the 10 nationalist party candidates at one of the corners: Push the right button, and you get the right jack-in-the-box!
Of course I should say nothing about the toothpaste commercial of Mary Gauci or the almost “happy couple” effect that the “greens” have come up with. Maybe that is all the Maltese want to talk about, Happy Couples such as in Ipokriti or some other soap opera by the famous Eileen Montesin.
Dr Alfred Grech
Gozo