Hypocrisy is what I find most unacceptable in politics, even if since long ago, I keep being told it is an essential ingredient of the game.

The latest major instance of this is being provided by the Nationalists in the European Parliament. On the one hand they have been manoeuvring hard, plugging at both high and low, for the spotlight to be kept on the Mizzi/Schembri story and the pair’s Panama companies. They did this especially regarding the parliamentary committee which is investigating the Panama papers scandal. Their inputs on this subject were clearly going to affect negatively the island’s name and reputation abroad.

On the other hand they realize that the message they are trying to transmit could be of huge detriment to the financial services sector in this country. I have been warning about this for quite a while.

And now we see them bleating that the claims they make should not be used by European decision makers to justify restricting the freedom of decision for Malta and other countries when setting taxation levels.

I wonder who will be impressed by this hypocritical exercise. I’ve always held that the PN have a full right to continue raising the Panama issue (along with others) – in the Maltese context. To make an issue out of it in European circles for local partisan reasons, is a wretched operation that goes against the national interest.

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European army

Initiatives are building up inside the European Commission and other institutions of the European Union in support of moves to set the foundations for a common army. Recently, I already wrote here about this.

Meanwhile, the Commission has published its proposals on the subject. They seem technically precise and have been assembled very carefully. To me they can only be considered as a development that will raise disquiet about the future.

Truly, the present is not so promising for Europe if it needs to envisage the establishment of a common military force, just so as to consolidate its unity.

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December festa

One of the best Maltese festas – both for its historical significance and for the way by which it is celebrated – happens on the 8 December, the festa of the Immaculate Conception at Cospicua. It’s especially “best” on a nice day, with blazing sun or cold weather, when it all turns happy and beautiful.

At least, that’s how I remember the festa. Closer to now, I happened to be abroad when the date arrives. Every time I visited Cospicua on festa occasions, I would again note the city’s tourism potential. Up to not so long ago, this potential would be ignored. The development of a quay in Cottonera for the berthing of yachts began to change things, but the project was left pending.

Now the Labour government has given a further push for the development of the locality as a whole, when it decided to establish in Cospicua a campus of the new University it plans to establish.

If this project gets done, it should serve as a magnet to attract foreign visitors to the city and its neighbourhood, many of whom will be young people. Later for the rest of their lives, they will consider Cospicua as the location of a beautiful experience in their youths. After having finished their studies, they will keep coming back... along with their families... as tourists.