We have all seen and been shocked by the YouTube of Minister Edward Scicluna hemming and hawing his way when he faced the European Parliament committee, scoring so many own goals one tended to forget to count them.

This YouTube, posted by MEP Roberta Metsola, whipped up a veritable firestorm as seen from the many comments on practically all websites’ comment pages.

But just as the storm was brewing, a DOI press release plopped into the email inbox and its contents were even more surprising and shocking.

It was as though the minister or his aides were not aware of the firestorm the YouTube had caused. Closed up in beatific isolation, the author of the press release spoke of a ‘warm welcome’ extended to the minister.

Here is the text, because many missed it: “MEPs in the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee gave a warm welcome to Minister Edward Scicluna, a former MEP and Vice-chair of the Committee during an Exchange of Views held with the ECON committee on Thursday 5 December.

“The coordinator of the EPP Mr Gauzes together with the S&D coordinator Elisa Ferreira had encouraging words for the challenging work that he was undertaking.

“I am very pleased with the overall positive feedback and encouragement received from MEPs from the various political groups sitting on the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs,” remarked Finance Minister Prof. Edward Scicluna after the meeting.

“Prof. Scicluna spoke of the government’s economic and social priorities and how these influenced this year’s Budget. Among the main areas earmarked to be tackled as a matter of urgency include Malta’s dependency on oil, its low labour participation rate, its early school leavers and illiteracy, and other non-fiscal reforms including those for the courts and the health sector.

“Prof. Scicluna also underlined the government’s priority to introduce fiscal responsibility, and its goal to closing 2013 with a deficit of below 3%, and said that the divergence of opinion on this forecast between Malta and the European Commission will be resolved by the end of the year when the financial report will give a clear picture of the situation.

“Prof. Scicluna also fielded questions on the budget coordination process at ECOFIN level, Malta’s cooperation with China as a strategic partner in the energy sector, the Banking Union and the Single Resolution Mechanism, the Common Fund, and the Individual Investor Programme.

“With regard to the Draft Budget which was submitted to the Commission in mid October, Prof. Scicluna noted that while transparency is essential and that it is positive that EU Ministers are for the first time coordinating budget efforts, the publication of certain aspects of the Maltese Budget ahead of time caused some market disruption due to the speculation of impending changes to excise duties.

“Speaking about Malta’s banking sector, Prof. Scicluna underlined how the stability and resilience of the Maltese banking system showed itself during the financial crisis, when other banks in other Member States required assistance.

“Speaking about the Individual Investor Programme, Prof. Scicluna said the government wanted to set up a Development Fund which such a scheme could tie with. What had happened was the marketing team completed their work prior to the setting up of the Development Fund.

“He added that useful talks are being held between the government and the Opposition prior to the publication of the respective legal notices about the detailed workings of the scheme.”

Now it’s obvious that the nine minutes or so we saw on YouTube were not the entire session but there’s a world of difference between what we all saw and the minister or his aides’ beatific perception of a very different committee meeting.

This is not the only time that there was this enormous gap between the government’s press releases and reality.

I sensed this some days ago after a Euro Area finance ministers’ meeting. The DOI press release said: “Eurogroup acknowledges measures taken by Malta to address risks” whereas a news service (I believe AFP) said, “Eurozone warns Spain, Italy (I added Malta from the report itself) to deliver on commitments”.

It added: “The Eurogroup of finance ministers and the European Commission put the five, which also includes Finland, Luxembourg and Malta, in the spotlight after a first-ever peer review of national eurozone budgets before being passed in national parliaments.”

Goes to show.

Bad days

If I were Jason Micallef, I would be extremely worried by now.

Now I don’t know if, when he was appointed to take charge of V18, he was given or discussed the ‘envelope’ given to spend.

I assume this sort of happened but would not be very surprised if I were to learn he was just appointed with no talk of financial backing for V18.

He must have known that a year before Valletta becomes European capital of culture, Malta will hold the EU Presidency.

Again, in this case, the government must somehow have another envelope, ie a financial estimate of what the Presidency is going to cost Malta.

Other countries plan years ahead and even though they cut every little extra expense, they end up paying quite a substantial sum.

But since then Malta has ‘risen’ to two other high-profile events. Prime Minister Muscat jumped at the opportunity offered to him at the Sri Lanka CHOGM and generously offered to host the next one in Malta.

We now learn this will be handled by persons outside the diplomatic service, so my reasoning tells me the costs will be greater.

And finally, little Gaia won the Eurovision Junior Song Festival as a result of which the contest next year will most probably be held in Malta.

Given this government’s unique vision of ‘popular entertainment’ there would be a popular rebellion if Malta were to pass this opportunity up, even though this is not the real, grown-up Eurovision.

Now this will entail quite a hefty envelope. Simply to put up a stage as they had in Kiev will cost millions. That’s apart from finding the right place to stage it.

Now all this brings me back to Jason Micallef. There are two certainties here:

One, that V18 is the most important event to take place given its possible long-term impact on Malta’s cultural offering

Secondly, there is simply no popular backing for it, because it is seen as an ‘elite event’ that only interests a tiny minority of arts fans.

Which is why I am afraid that even if Mr Micallef was given an envelope, he will find it getting slimmer by the minute as competing events steal or siphon its funds. And if he has not been given an envelope, he is in a much worse situation for he has no funds to begin with.

I have not mentioned the national events coming up, the 50 years of our independence, the 40 years of our republic and the 10 years as EU members as these are government events for which I am sure the government is budgeting. Even so, they will also be a drain on our meagre resources.

[email protected]