This year is barely five weeks old but is surely promising to be an unforgettable one, replete with many uncomfortable surprises and uncertainties. Both domestically and internationally, events seem about to converge at a crossroads with truly unknown outcomes.
On the domestic front Malta has been gripped by the political instability that unnecessarily broke loose just 23 days ago. This high stakes drama has abruptly wiped clean most of the more pressing issues off the island’s political agenda. As Malta grapples with some serious economic reforms (chief among them the deficit restructuring and Air Malta), it also braces itself to face the economic headwinds unleashed from a probable and predicted double dip euro-wide recession. In the meantime, we sadly continue to waffle and bicker, distracting ourselves from the looming bigger picture with some of us more hell bent on going to the hustings than to face up to these economic realities.
No doubt the Franco Debono standoff with the Prime Minister has been simmering away in the background for quite some time. The gridlock has all the hallmarks of a breathtaking and probably avoidable political tragedy as the dogs of war prowl incessantly in the not so distant background. Probably, these events, coupled with words expressed during the last three weeks, clearly demonstrate that things have now reached breaking point. Although I am writing this article just before the crucial Thursday vote, I have my hunches as to the shape of things to come.
But my article today is not really about the drama being played out on our tiny political stage. Rather it is more a questionable tribute to our uncanny behaviour that seems to mark us Maltese as insular and inward looking and immune to the startling events going on around us.
I believe much more significant events are unfolding that we are disregarding at our own peril. Without any doubt the primary one is surely the next phase in the euro crisis. Only four months ago, in an article in this newspaper entitled “The United Stakes of Europe”, I expressed my utter dismay at some of our political opponents’ cavalier attitude to the financial crisis that threatens to consume us lest we remain vigilant and focused on the unfolding events. And now, four months down the line, some of our leading political leaders remain amazingly unfazed and sanguine with regard to the goings on in mainland Europe.
Clearly, Europe’s leaders have been extremely ham fisted in tackling this ongoing financial mess with speed and efficiency. Decisions have been fudged as interests, national and individual, clashed resulting in a delay in the much-needed consensus. This week’s EU summit is being touted as being the closest the Union has ever been at finding a lasting solution to this seeming unending saga.
In the meantime, unemployment in many eurozone countries continues to creep steadily up with its attendant social collateral damage. No amount of cuts in Greek bond payments seems to assuage the market, as Greece seems heading for an unceremonious March default. Austerity measures are starting to bite in many European nations and serious questions are being raised about the long-term health of the welfare state and the welfare concept, as Europeans have perceived it for decades. To boot, the United Kingdom is being tempted by isolationist rumblings as the rest of the Union hobbles together some coherent “compact”.
Financial ratings agencies continue to downgrade countries and institutions with almost gay abandon to the utter dismay of political leaders across the continent while feeding the predatory market forces that continue to skew the shaking foundations of the European financial bastion
What emerges from next week’s EU summit is probably anyone’s guess. Although there seems to be a more steely resolve from the major players to come to some conclusive agreement, financial pundits have clearly expressed their doubts. Hope remains an essential ingredient but surely is not enough. Although some progress will be registered many suspect there will be more muddling in the hope that the recession that grips Europe will be mild rather than a prolonged financial pneumonia. No one seems to want to contemplate a full meltdown, which would have ramifications across the whole world.
Back in Malta seemingly more pressing events beckon. Hopefully, in one way or another, Malta will exit the current political impasse. The quicker our political leaders are back in the driving seat and fully concentrated on the job, the faster they can steer our islands across the choppy seas ahead.
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