How shall accountability in Malta be established on a serious basis?
This is one of the major challenges that the new Prime Minister will have to face. Without undermining the foundations on which government action is based, he will have to promote a culture in public administration that comprehends the difference between the conditions that regulate private and public management. In the first case, while all relevant laws need to be respected, the right is retained to safeguard one’s operations from the scrutiny of strangers. In the second, given that all citizens are the ultimate owners of what is held publicly, full and clear account must be given of what is being done.
To skimp on this in order to enable a quicker decision is understandable as an approach – it is convenient but mistaken. It gives rise to suspicions that matters are not being carried out properly. Such suspicions are not always justified; sometimes they are.
The way by which decisions are taken and the positioning that leads to them must be clarified and explained as soon as possible. It is not easy. One hardly wants to risk meltdown by letting things drift. Equally one does not want to risk operational paralysis by putting too much information in the public domain.
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EUROPEAN BUDGET
Work to finalise a framework for the budgets of the EU over the next seven years remains pending. An agreement between member states, the European Commission and the European Parliament still seems to be stuck.
Is this such an important problem? It is; but hardly bigger than the other problem regarding whether there exist enough European policy tools with which to revive the overall economy of the continent should it go into decline.
Even if both problems persist... which is likely... they will not constitute a fatal danger to the European construct. This will remain, as happened in recent years, a project to which for the last six decades, European countries have maintained such a steadfast commitment, that they can hardly allow it to deteriorate excessively.
No matter what they believe about it, no matter what they say, they will at least continue to muddle through: perhaps by enduring stagnation, but without allowing collapse.
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TOMORROW
In all narratives we get about what happens around us there always is some pointer towards the future. What’s going to happen next? What should be done today so that tomorow things will turn out in a certain way?
Even when the narrative is pegged to the moment at which the story is still breaking, in the way by which it is presented there is already a trace of how it could develop further. One might perhaps think that this only applies to novels or films. Not so. In every news item that is played at us, you’ll find embedded the concept of “tomorrow”.
One is tempted to believe that without the idea of a “tomorrow”, life would not be possible. And if one is expecting to die imminently? For believers in an after-life, the prospect of an unfolding future should still be available. For non-believers, tomorrow would revolve around queries about what is going to happen to the people and property one would be leavng behind... or so I imagine...
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Best wishes for a prosperous New Year to the staff and all readers of the Malta Independent, as well as their families.