Tomorrow Malta commemorates one of the five National Days. However, one must admit that discrimination exists not only among people but also among these five National Days. During these long years under the PN, most of the feasts are celebrated without much enthusiasm but Independence Day is another story. Not only is it celebrated at the party level, but at the national level the activities which are organised are not comparable to what is organised for the remaining four national feasts.

My guess is that some will write in the newspapers that Malta should have only one National Day, which to some extent makes sense, however the question is, which one out of these five? I feel that the political atmosphere at present is not conducive to such talks taking place.

What happened in Parliament earlier this year, when a vote in favour of the Opposition was turned into a vote against, and also the lack of an apology which is still owed to my colleague Justyne Caruana, has tainted the political atmosphere and it is not the time for a discussion of this kind to take place.

Not only this fact, but the way the Nationalist government is acting with regard to the day-to-day running of the country by discriminating against most and accommodating those who in return are great supporters of the PN is also another issue which needs to be debated. The chosen few are doing fine and good luck to them, but a government should govern in the interest of all. Genuine Nationalist supporters feel that their party has departed from the principles that used to guide them, according to them, in the past and now other interests are the order of the day.

Some days ago I was talking to a person who told me that the PN in the past used to say that corruption was institutionalised, however, according to this gentleman nowadays corruption has become legal and is the talk of today. And yes, I repeat what the Leader of the Opposition says, in that corruption is another tax. The Maltese taxpayer is forking out millions of euros for the corruption in the big projects. There is no need to list these projects since everyone knows to what I am referring.

Not yet out

The international crisis is still very much debated among economists and other experts. Some believe that it is not yet over while others argue that internationally the road to recovery has started. Locally, according to the Prime Minister, we are out of it but we were never told that we were in it. But let us forget this political discourse for the moment. Of course, the bread and butter issue is much more important and of substance for our families.

While the crisis involves the majority of the countries and does not depend exclusively on what national governments do, I believe that good governance is an asset and part of the solution to the current international crisis. If we take the example of Greece, one can immediately understand my point. Fiscal and financial stability are two key issues which need to be in place. Corruption works against the stability and hinders recovery.

The Socialist Party in Greece in 2009 inherited a situation from the previous Conservative PM Costas Karamanlis which was, to say the least, shocking. The previous administration managed to hide the actual situation of Greece not only from its people but also from the European Union. The debt of the country was $388 thousand million, higher than that of every other EU member state. The deficit for the year 2009 was 13 per cent, which is more than four times the three-per-cent limit of the European Union. When all this was known at EU level the shock was felt, especially in the eurozone where the Euro went down by seven per cent compared to the US Dollar.

Moreover, the order of the day in Greece was corruption and tax evasion. Transparency was very much lacking and one of the first measures that the Greek government took was to be transparent in all its actions and decisions. George Papandreou, the current Prime Minister, opted for the hard but necessary way. In the interest of his country first and foremost and also for the common good of the EU, he had to introduce austerity measures together with a transparent style of leadership. This, of course, created unrest among the Greek people who were never told the facts about the running of their country from their previous administration.

I see some similarities to the local scene. Transparency is not the order of the day locally either and the fiscal and financial situation is not always known as was the case in 1996, when it was thanks to a change in government that the real situation became known to all.

Carmelo Abela

Labour Main Spokesperson for Industry and Foreign Investment

Email: [email protected]