Whoever wishes to evaluate in a fair manner what is happening in this country will acknowledge that the investigations into the murder of Mrs Caruana Galizia have triggered unprecedented levels of polarisation. I lived through the eighties from beginning to end, but cannot remember the same level of commitment among those who are against the government of the day, to show at all costs that public affairs in Malta are all being conducted according to evil and twisted intentions.
Such a development is even more shocking because efforts in this sense seem to be also inspired by family members of the murder victim, who have all interest to see that the originators and perpetrators of the crime are brought to justice as speedily as possible.
It is as if among us, there exist a substantial number of people who are caught in a mental state that forces them into a tunnel vision. The only thing that counts is what they want to see and believe. The rest is unimportant. But the rest includes a reality in which a serious investigation is being carried out. In the end, it may be fully successful or not, but certainly there is no profit in trying to put obstacles inits path as of now.
Later, the outcome will no doubt be up for review.
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Party funds
Usually, the question as to whether political parties should receive state funds to organize their activities raises ambiguous reservations. They occur among those who agree that such a system should be in place, but not when their party is in government. Reservations also occur among those who are unsure as to which party will benefit most from the measure and therefore prefer to keep their judgement on hold.
For me, the right decision has always been clear: the parties should be given state funds limited to a certain amount, which they can use as best they deem, for objectives that are clearly stated and according to operating criteria that are subject to monitoring. Similarly, the contributions to party funds coming from the private sector should be subject to clear rules regarding how donations can be made and their capping.
This approach is not really liked by all.
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The story continues
The second round of Brexit negotiations is not going to be easier than the first phase, which covered issues that defined how the divorce between the UK and the EU is going to be shaped.
What needs to be negotiated now is the new relationship that must be put in place between the two parties.
The divergences that could still arise are huge. On the European side, there exist a number of models of agreements reached with third countries that could serve as a framework for future relations with the UK.But it is difficult to tell how well they would fit the case of a country which has been a member of the Union for over forty years and which happened to be the second largest national economy in the Union.
To complicate matters, a close look at what has been agreed up to now, reveals that the implementation of a sizeable chunk of the agreement will greatly depend on how discussions proceed during the second phase of negotiations that should start soon.