So much for the big controversies that developed these past two years about TTIP and so on: the agreements on investments and free trade which were being drawn up between the US and the EU, and between the US and the countries of the Pacific rim.

The Americans had been working hard to achieve progress on an agreement with the Europeans, who on their side were also pushing forward. With the Pacific countries, negotiations had been concluded.

Now with Trump’s arrival in the White House, these initiatives seem to have gone up in smoke. The Trump administration says it will totally oppose all such arrangements. The change in policy has surprised the Pacific countries and wrong footed most European leaders who still do not know how to react.

The irony is that in Europe wide ranging left wing forces were mobilising to oppose the agreement with the US. Now they are finding that it will be a US President who is well to the right who will be delivering them from the agreement’s unpleasantnesses and on many points, for the same reasons that they espoused.

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Referendum

In the wake of the Italian referendum, discussion has again arisen regarding the use of the referendum as a decision making tool for people to decide about their future.

It is being said that in the Italian case, ex-Prime Minister Renzi made a mistake when he tied his own position as Prime Minister to the referendum result. Personally, I fail to see how Renzi could have done otherwise. He was proposing a radical reform in the country’s set-up. It raised huge resistances, against which he strongly fought back. It is also true that the referendum served to unite all those who just wanted to get rid of Renzi.

But this is part and parcel of the ambiguity which the use of referenda gives rise to in a democracy that depends on parliamentary structures to articulate popular aspirations.

An interesting development here has been that lately, governments seem to have lost the ability they had in times past, to manoeuvre in such a way as to organize referenda that would provide them with the outcome they desired.

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Msida

I was greatly pleased last Sunday to attend a small reception given by the St Joseph Band Club at Msida. As a contribution to the programme of the Malta presidency in the EU, local MEPs will be putting up individual projects in the European Parliament. Mine will be a display by a Maltese band.

The Malta Band Clubs Association kindly took charge of the selection of the club that will travel to Brussels. The Msida band was chosen. During the reception I had the opportunity to meet the club’s directors. It is one of the smaller outfits, but it too has a long history which, as is the case for many other bands in Malta and Gozo, was built around the commitment and interest of citizens. They voluntarily dedicate their time and talents to managing an active musical base tied to the life of the community where the band is located.

I’ve always been an admirer of their efforts.