As 2014 draws to a close, it is a good opportunity to look back at its highlights. We knew beforehand that this year would mark some important political anniversaries. Malta celebrated half a century of independence and the foresight and the good sense of planning of the people who worked and achieved this fundamental status in our country's sense of itself. We also marked 10 years' membership of the EU, a major item on our political agenda.
The year also marked Labour's first year in government when the Party's honeymoon period drew to a close. While all new governments tend to enjoy a public "high" after winning an election, in Labour's case this has been dramatic.
How Labour learned to stop worrying and love the EU
The election for the European Parliament coincided with the 10th anniversary of Malta's accession to the EU. Oh, sweet irony. Whether it was the Labour Party's leadership on the stump making it sound like membership was always their big idea, or Alfred Sant conveniently elected to lead a delegation of the MEPs to whom he once referred as "whitebait", Labour's views of the EU could not be any more different than they were a decade ago. Even the "well, let's try to make the most of it" line has disappeared.
Had this been a simple change of opinion, the most appropriate reaction would have been to simply shrug and move on. But for 15 years, as Malta went from applicant, to candidate, to accession state, nothing undermined our political certainty and peace of mind more than Labour's silly views on Malta and the EU. From our "on again, off again" application, to the replacement of VAT with a DIY direct tax system, think of all the major policy U-turns - and embarrassments - we could have avoided if only Labour had chosen to be sensible from the start.
The loss of some of the most prominent members of the most expensive Cabinet in history
The 'best Cabinet in history' is also the most expensive. With no fewer than 23 members, enough to field two football teams and a referee, by the end of this parliamentary term the salary bill will have topped €130 million. And this figure is strictly limited to ministers and parliamentary secretaries, who come with 23 well-staffed secretariats, the members of which have been placed on higher grades than their predecessors.
The rot has spread. Posts have been created purposely to keep backbench MPs happy (one of the very first Acts of Parliament was the removal of prohibitions for sitting MPs to be appointed to government boards), and to pay the people who generously lent their faces to Labour's election billboard campaign.
To date, the government has already lost quite a few of its most prominent ministers. Some by design and others by accident. Marie Louise Coleiro Preca and Karmenu Vella have been kicked upstairs but Franco Mercieca, Godfrey Farrugia and Manuel Mallia have their own different stories.
Missing the bus
Instead of taking what was good with the public transport service and fixing what wasn't, the government decided to make it impossible for the previous operator to continue while having no contingency plan for what to do in the meantime before another operator stepped in. The service has continued to deteriorate while making a deeper hole in public finances.
The government's approach meant that many potential bidders were adamant about dealing with someone who seemed unable to act in good faith. It must have been desperation at having no takers that led the government to sign up the operator who should take over next month. Not only is the subsidy an astronomical €23 million per annum (up from €5 million in the days of the previous operator), but also the operator will not be taking over the entire network next year. Presumably, it will only take over the profitable routes, leaving the loss-making ones to add an even bigger burden to the public purse.
Out of energy
The Nationalist Party had referred to Labour's plan for the energy sector as stuff from Alice in Wonderland. With hindsight, that claim was too generous, as no white rabbit emerged from the magical top hat. There will be no new power station by the do-or-die date of March 2015, there wasn't even any plan for one, just some very abstract thought.
The "cancer and asthma factory" will run for longer, gas storage tanks cannot be set up on land so an LNG tanker will be permanently moored in the middle of Marsaxlokk Bay and we've just sold off a good chunk of our energy sovereignty and got nothing in return except for some vague MoUs. Whatever reductions there have been to electricity rates are thanks to the previous investment in a new generator, as well as the higher prices for fuel while the international prices fall to historic lows.
I take the opportunity to wish the editor, staff and readers of The Malta Independent on Sunday all the best for 2015.