A series of public meetings are now underway where members of the Cabinet make presentations about their portfolio, informing those present about their achievements and explaining the challenges faced in the first few weeks in office.  These sessions give attendees the opportunity to ask questions, make suggestions and comment on the government’s performance in its first hundred days.  

All members of the Cabinet will be involved in this exercise during June with the Prime Minister holding the final session on 25 June.  I will be participating in a session on the morning of Saturday 22 June, together with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for European Affairs, Hon Louis Grech.

These public dialogue meetings are the fulfilment of an election promise. We want open government, not only to strengthen transparency and accountability but also to encourage participation.  Everyone should have the opportunity to express their opinion and to influence Government decisions and choices

It is no accident that these sessions are taking place at the Auberge de Castille, the seat of Government and the workplace of the Prime Minister.  These meetings could easily have been hosted in conference halls in hotels or at any other venue.  But the Auberge de Castille signifies authority.  It is the place where policy is formed and decisions are taken.  Anyone attending one of these meetings knows they are delivering their message to the heart of government.

These dialogue sessions are a form of empowerment, giving citizens a greater say and sense of involvement.  People get the opportunity to hold us, Cabinet members, to account for what we have done or failed to do.  It is true that today the electorate can communicate with us through email or Facebook and other social media, but this exercise, giving people the chance to put direct questions and supplementary ones to Ministers, puts the public on par with Members of Parliament who have the luxury of regularly putting Ministers on the spot during question time in the House of Representatives.  I am not aware of any other country that provides such an opportunity for its citizens.

Some might say that by holding these public dialogue sessions, following the first hundred days in office, the government is taking a gamble. Even though much has already been achieved by the Labour administration I appreciate there will be those who feel that more should have been done quicker.  The truth is that change cannot be delivered overnight. If we take the electoral pledge to reduce water and electricity rates, a lot of hard work is taking place.

In the election we made clear that utility bills would come down 12 months after a Labour victory. I am confident that 2014 will see an average 25% cut in electricity bills. What a contrast that will be with the PN administration that was happy to impose massive increases.

While people understand that Rome was not built in a day they want to be kept au courant and abreast of developments especially in those areas affecting them and their families. They would want to hear, for example, what the Health Minister is doing to address the problems of waiting lists for operations at Mater Dei Hospital, which was such a hot topic during the electoral campaign. They might want to question the Transport Minister about his plans to improve public transport. 

They might want to impress upon the Minister for Social Solidarity the importance of the provision of more housing or better accessibility for people with disabilities. They might be interested in how the Minister for the Environment intends to address the problems of the ever-increasing volume of household and industrial waste or CO2 emissions, a topic which was touched upon by the European Commission in its latest report on Malta.

In my case, I am looking forward to this dialogue meeting not only to explain the problems we inherited with respect to the utilisation of EU funds but to explain the efforts we are making and initiatives we are taking to not to lose any of these funds.

At the end of the day it all boils down to good communication. We need to explain what we are doing and we need to listen to the people. It’s a two way street. I look forward to these dialogue meetings being held on a regular basis throughout the whole legislature.  

Dr. Ian Borg is the Parliamentary Secretary for EU Presidency 2017 and EU Funds