The Malta Employers’ Association stated that the country faces a political and institutional meltdown unless the two major parties get their respective houses in order.

On one hand the governing party is mired in an ever-increasing series of scandals, the MEA said in a statement. The country’s international reputation is in tatters, which is a serious threat to our economy. On the other the party in opposition is a disorganised mess and is failing miserably to project itself as an alternative government, as is expected from an opposition party.

Society in general is being betrayed by the political class, and there is a general loss of faith in leadership, and in our major institutions such as the law courts and the police. Such a state of affairs is untenable and carries the real danger of institutional collapse.

The association warned that such an eventuality will leave no winners and the country stands to lose what the Maltese people have worked so hard to achieve post-Independence. Unlike COVID, this is a crisis of our own making which no vaccine will cure. The only way in which we can get out of this hole is by acknowledging the gravity of the situation, putting aside tribal differences, and to have a concerted effort to clean up our act by stamping out crime and corruption.

“We need to restore core values based on entitlement through hard work, solidarity and tolerance, and a business environment based on trust, enterprise and commitment,” the association said. The Association underscored the need to seriously consider parliamentary reform to attract Malta’s best elements towards the vocation which is politics. Social partners, through the MCESD, need to get their heads together to shake the country out of its state of denial and address this situation concretely before matters reach critical mass.

The Maltese people deserve better, the statement concluded.