The wanton destruction of Malta’s natural environment under Joseph Muscat’s administration has become yet another hallmark of the anything-goes, zero accountability, total impunity, attitude of this Government.

It is heart-breaking to watch as the in-your-face corruption designed to enrich the already rich at the expense of everyone else as the heritage we were meant to leave for our children continues to be depleted. It is the opposite of what a Government should be doing.

They see holding on to power as a means to make the most of it for themselves, rather than as a service to the next generation. This is a Government of spin, but as in life, too much spinning makes one dizzy and they have begun to fall over themselves in their attempts to justify the unjustifiable.

Take the obscene decision to use public funds to pay for a private jet to fly a Muscat-appointee on the Planning Authority Board all the way from and back to her holiday it Italy in order for her to be able to vote the way Muscat wanted on the most controversial project in recent years.

That is what happens when power corrupts to the point that commuting by private jet is the only way Muscat’s people choose to travel. A jet has become the new must-have accessory of the Muscat inner circle.

Now contrast that with the fact that there are apparently insufficient funds to run a decent helicopter service from the Gozo hospital.

We would normally of course expect investigations, accountability, responsibility - a political signal that these situations are not acceptable, but in Muscat’s world you can open secret global financial structures across the world, your accountants can even promise to deposit vast annual sums of money that you cannot legally earn and you can plod along as if nothing has happened.

Obscene.

Spin 

In a government only interested in spin, it is no surprise that Government tries to claim that a damning European Banking Authority letter is somehow worthy of a golden star. It is not. At all.

The EBA highlighted so many shortcomings in how this administration treats money-laundering and in its oversight mechanisms, that our Finance Minister should be hanging his head. Instead he launched an astonishing attack on the people who complained to him about corruption. He tries to sell the idea that the problem is normal people speaking out against corruption, rather than the systematic problems plaguing this administration.

But even he knows that history will not be a kind judge to those who protected and enabled people like Konrad Mizzi.

The same over-reliance on spin is what has allowed Muscat to avoid publishing the Bugeja Inquiry report for the last two-months. It has now emerged that not only was Muscat given a copy but our Attorney General actually emailed a full copy to the Justice Minister, who he claimed was acting as Muscat’s personal lawyer. We know that is not true. In any way, manner or form.

We also know that should a Minister engage in private practice this would breach the code of ethics - so much so that George Hyzler, the person nominated as the new Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards already flagged this.                                                           

It is therefore no wonder PN Leader Adrian Delia is forced to resort to court to demand the publication of the report and defend the public’s right to know. It has become a fight to protect the constitutional institutions of Malta.

Encouraging

Spending days on the Granaries as part of the PN Independence Day activities was encouraging. It gave me the opportunity to meet with, and listen to, so many old friends and make many new ones.

Hundreds of people came to our MEP stand to give us their views on the EU and what they want to see from their MEPs. Your support is a source of strength. We will keep fighting - because we know that democracy is not only the law of the majority but the protection of the rights’ of the minority.

Roberta Metsola is a PN MEP that will be contesting for the MEP Elections 2019