For many years, Labour’s self-image was that of a political outfit that stood for the (Maltese) underdog against foreign interest. Conversely, in Labour’s narrative the PN was made to look like the natural home of people with a massive inferiority complex who, if they had it their way, would be ready to re-install a British governor in San Anton and Her Majesty’s Navy in the port. Of course, this couldn’t be farther than the truth: the Nationalist Party’s struggle for Independence and the quest for the right to sit with the big guns in the Council of the European Union through EU membership are proof of this.

The unrelenting battle against “il-barrani”

This insular and petty nationalistic outlook has underpinned quite a few of Labour’s previous stances, whether in government or opposition. From the passage of the notorious Foreign Interference Act, to the shenanigans when one RN vessel tried to dock in Grand Harbour, to its opposition to EU membership, Labour imagined Faustian pacts being negotiated between the PN and the perfidious foreigner and set itself the historic duty to tilt at windmills.

While the PN has never felt the need for paranoia, it is mindful of the fact that our country, population and economy are small, and caution should be exercised. For this reason, for example, in the EU accession negotiations, a PN government successfully argued for a derogation (incidentally, Malta was the only new member state of the 2004 intake to obtain one) that limited the number of properties that could be acquired by non-residents.

A 180-degree turn

In this regard, it was a very different Labour that returned to office earlier this year – thankfully. But it has now gone well and truly overboard.

Remember the fuss over BWSC? Remember the ruckus over the fact that Siemens, its sub-contractor, was temporarily placed on the World Bank’s blacklist? That blacklisting happened after the award of the Maltese tender, after a full-blown tendering procedure had been applied. Yet Labour, probably thinking that a government needed to have the power to see into the future, still cried foul.

Things changed as soon as it was elected to government. Actually, it was before. We now learn that, while it was still in Opposition, huffing and puffing over BWSC and planning to buy an entire power station without employing the usual procurement procedures, it was already in touch with a foreign consultant who is permanently on the World Bank’s blacklist – which that institution makes available on its website for anyone with a PC and an internet connection.

The finger on the switch

There was a time when a Nationalist government that privatised state-owned enterprises, whether in part or in whole, would be described by Labour as “selling the family silver”. Now in government, Labour has sold a quarter of Enemalta to China. Of course, China has been and still remains an important and valued partner but this is not just any state-owned company or enterprise. It would not have mattered if a country other than China had been involved, because this is the corporation that deals with something as fundamental and economically strategic as our energy needs and that, for geographical reasons, looks set to remain the main (the only, for some years to come) provider of our electricity requirements.

The Corporation’s deputy chairman will be Chinese, that is, a foreigner. Papers that dedicated so much inch-space to misquoting the former Finance Minister regarding a ‘cuc Malti’ running a Maltese state-owned company have had nothing to say about this. Having given the impression that they were all for having any nincompoop in a senior government job, provided he is Maltese (which, after all, is the policy the current government seems to be following), they have nothing to say about the fact that directorship of the Corporation will no longer be completely answerable to a government democratically elected by the Maltese people. It was a very apt metaphor that described the situation as the government no longer having its finger on the switch.

The privatisation of citizenship

The latest sell-off is the Maltese passport. Soon it will be possible to purchase Maltese citizenship. The most likely buyers are people with no connection or even a passing interest in Malta and things Maltese, just an interest in the benefits of an EU passport. In a sense, these prospective citizenship buyers share a common interest with the irregular immigrants who landed in Malta a few weeks ago, asking for help. Of course, there has been no marketing campaign by the government to attract the latter. Rather, there was a failed attempt to push back the whole lot of them. 

The Prime Minister has been quoted as saying that selling citizenship to wealthy foreigners will help modernise a prehistoric economy. I cannot understand the logic behind this statement but I do understand that for the sake of modernising the economy he seems to want the state to resurrect the mediaeval practice of ensuring salvation through the sale of indulgences. This practice makes “Mediterranean cemetery” talk sound cheap. It is Champagne Socialism at its worst.

In another blow to transparency, the government will be repealing the Article of the Law that requires the publication of the names of new citizens in the Government Gazette. Care to guess what kind of people the government thinks will be applying? Just hope that the due diligence, which seems not to be retained within the ranks of the Maltese state, is actually better than the one that allowed the government to employ a blacklisted corrupt fraudster as one of its main consultants.

Maltese citizenship is a source of pride for Maltese nationals, while Maltese emigrants fought a long and hard battle to have dual citizenship made possible, authentically reflecting their dual identity as Maltese by birth and a national of their country of adoption. A foreigner who marries a Maltese national has to wait at least five years to be granted citizenship. We already have residence schemes – that could perhaps be improved – and we can, of course, also grant citizenship to those who are genuinely interested and willing to contribute meaningfully to our country, society and economy. But we should not have a cheap sale on the cards.

This does not matter much for Labour. Its first real budget is approaching and, thanks in no small part to its post-election bonanza of political favours, the balance sheet is not looking good. It’s time to look around and make a quick buck without any concern for principle. As Oscar Wilde once famously quipped, it knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.