One year ago, in January 2013, Angela Merkel praised Malta’s “excellent” economic performance. Just three months earlier, at the 5+5 summit, European Commission President Jose Barroso went out of his way to say that Malta was doing “better than most of the other EU member states”.

They were right to praise us.

Ours was by far the best performing economy in the Mediterranean – lowest unemployment rate and youth unemployment rate, smallest budget deficit, and highest economic growth over the previous five years.

Not only were we the best performer in the Mediterranean, but we were one of the top four or five performers in the entire European Union at a time when every single one of our southern European neighbours either needed a bailout or just managed to avoid one by the skin of their teeth.

We achieved this result by convincing the world that we are good people to do business with. That we are a good place to set up, to trade, to grow.

We created an environment that encouraged whole new sectors to establish themselves and thrive here. We welcomed thousands of expats among us who enriched our economy and our society, while keeping our property market afloat.

In short, our carefully built reputation for being reliable, credible and pleasant partners is what kept us safe while others around us faltered or crashed.

That reputation took many years to build, because good news – a small island working hard and cleverly while avoiding trouble – does not make international headlines. We had to keep on plugging away despite the lack of an easy media spotlight, hoping that if we continued to the right things, we would someday reap the benefits. Slowly, but surely, we began to do so.

And now this. How much easier it is to tear down a reputation.

We have now managed to make the headlines all around the world. For all the wrong reasons.

We are being portrayed as “cash-strapped”, broke, so desperate for hard currency that we are ready to sell not only our family jewels, but Europe’s too.

A senior German politician comments in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that we have “found a new way to traffic in human beings” that is “pathetic and vile”. A “shocked” EU Commissioner warns us that our government has violated international law and the European Union treaties. Several stories in The Financial Times and the New York Times express security concerns, causing disquiet not only in European capitals, but also in Washington. Italian newspapers, not easily shocked you’d have thought, lead with “Scandalo Malta”, while the European Parliament censures us for “undermining the very concept of European citizenship”.

This kind of damage is irreparable in the short term. Even if the passport selling scheme were scrapped tomorrow, any media echo would not begin to cancel the negativity that has been generated and associated with our name.

And our Prime Minister’s reaction, on hearing the damning verdict of the European Parliament? “It’s only an opinion”.

He doesn’t have a clue. He has not just tarnished our good name for a generation. He has damaged the shield that has kept us safe in turbulent times.

He once fought tooth and nail against European Union membership. When he saw that the battle was irretrievably lost, and once he calculated that it paid him to do so, he admitted he was wrong. With hindsight.

He bulldozed the passport selling scheme through Parliament despite clear warnings that he was about to make a massive mistake. It was only when he saw the international media reaction that he partially backed down, only to repackage the scheme and bulldoze it through again.

At some point I expect to see him unctuously conceding that he might have done things differently, expecting a pat on the back for being so wonderfully reasonable in admitting a mistake.

He would be wrong to think he’ll get that pat on the back.

The Maltese electorate, itching for a change, decided to give him a chance last March. He’s blown that chance and there is no way back for him.

Many voters invested heavily in him, emotionally if not financially. It is not easy for them to accept that he has failed them. But every day the evidence stacks up and more of them do.

As soon as the electorate has the chance, he’ll be out on his ear. Unfortunately, it will take a while, but the time will come.

Then the slow work of repair can begin.

Jonathan Shaw is a Nationalist Party candidate in the European Parliamentary elections.

www.jonshaw.com