The low interest rates prevailing in Europe show little sign they will be rising soon. They have upped the already existing tension between German finance minister Schauble and the president of the European Central Bank Draghi. To revive economic activity while targeting an inflation rate of 2 percent, Draghi has for the last months been pumping 60 billion euros monthly into the European economy.
Still, economic activity remains weak. Inflation has stayed below par. Interest payments on bank deposits and loans have almost disappeared.
According to Schauble, this is affecting badly German pensioners. They have seen vanish their income from savings deposited in banks. Angry, many have been tempted to vote for the AfD party, which opposes German membership of the eurozone.
Schauble has long been at odds with ECB policies. However with his public criticism he did go against what is supposedly a fundamental value of German politics: total respect towards the independence of a Central bank.
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Forgotten
A story in the media about a prestigious house in Rabat, Gozo, featured the name of its architect, Ġuże Damato. As far as I can remember, I had never heard about him. He was a talented professional who designed a good number of very valid projects.
A friend of mine told me that there are many Maltese who made a name for themselves in their chosen field of activity, and not just in Malta. But few know about them. You could say they have been totally forgoettn. Actually, you might be able to find their names inserted in some encyclopedia that used to be issued during the first half of the previous century, but that's not for sure. Or you could find their names mentioned in the works of people who delight in antiquarian researches.
Perhaps the state should centralise all the information that could be gathered about such people in some dictionary of national biography, as is done in the UK.
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John and Joe
This month, two old friends of mine died. I got to know and like both of them in the same way: as a result of their contribution to the Labour Party.
John Bartolo spent long years in the service of the Labour committee at Qormi, Joe Cassar in that of Luqa. As he was some twenty years older than John, Joe had been a Party militant for longer: I remember him on the ball in the National Executive, the General Conference of the party as well as at Luqa. He was hardworking and when problems arose, he would face them without hesitation. So did John, quietly and calmly (although he could get very upset about things, without letting this show). But he stayed attentive and agile, very much in the know about what was going on in his locality.
I greatly regretted not being able to attend their funeral as I was abroad.
People like them do not make the headlines. They are hardly known by the general public. Yet they are indispensable when parties are carrying out their "normal" functions among people.
They deserve full recognition for the services they gave to political democracy in our country. Unfortunately the number of people who follow their example is rapdly declining.
Once again I extend my condolences to John and Joe's families.