In what has been a pretty long career in journalism, I have been able to idly watch how parties in opposition everywhere seem to think that away from the power centre they can have an easier existence as they longingly wait for the natural law of alternation to someday, somehow kick in. They soon find out it is actually much more difficult to project an image of credibility and anticipation from the Opposition benches.
It gets even more complicated when negativity becomes the hallmark of an Opposition party bent on painting every door black, every move blacker and every breakthrough the blackest. Striking a moderate tone by way of convincingly reaching out to a majority of voters needs the magic of a born leader, with his own style, his own pathways to better days and a multi-coloured vision that relegates black to the smallest pot on their palette. The past examples in modern Maltese politics were few but easily identified - George Borg Olivier, Dom Mintoff, Eddie Fenech Adami and Joseph Muscat, warts and all.
What is remarkable in the current political scene is the inability of the power players within the Opposition party to realise that recklessly stretching the negativity factor to exposition at European fora will only further alienate the people who matter - the Maltese voters - from their "caravan of love". Another massive autogoal was committed this very week over the issue of European funds, yet another sad display of boomerang politics which cannot help in the cause of alternation.
While there will be hardliners who strangely find solace in these anti-Malta tactics, abetted by hop-step-and-jump EPP stalwarts at the behest of local sources, whose aims can only be interpreted as an attempt at shrinking, if not totally obliterating, Malta's tight lips glued to the EU's mammary glands, there should be no doubt the vast majority of Maltese citizens find it neither amusing nor exhilarating. It actually touches a vital, national chord that politicians would always do well to avoid plucking so clumsily.
There is, thankfully, a distinct expanse separating the established entities within the EU from the spiteful gallery play of individual MEPs and stiff-necked ideological groupings inside the European Parliament. It is why it was as painful as it was engrossing to watch the latest EPP barrage on Malta when both the European Commission and Olaf had already expressed their satisfaction as to how Malta was and still is handling European funds.
Boomerang politics were operating at their scientific Brussels best, with the unintended consequences of an attempt to persuade resulting in the adoption of an opposing position instead.
ESC's hidden message?
As happens year in year out, obviously skipping the 2020 hiatus because of the pandemic, the Eurovision Song Contest was subject to the usual spate of controversies, from seemingly cocaine-sniffing winners to predictable political voting. It amazes me, for example, how the BBC can so masochistically continue to hugely part-finance the festival while annually getting nil points verdicts that must irritate, to put it mildly, their writers, composers and singers alike.
It really is impossible to overlook the political filter that encompasses all the glitter and fake glory of the festival as well as the obvious gay influence throughout. Taking the ESC seriously is an impossible mission which is, perhaps, the only redeeming factor for something that has been going on for so long while still retaining its popularity.
Was there a hidden message in the fact that three of the first four songs to receive most votes were sung in the original national language - Italian, French and Ukrainian? Is there a trend towards going back to a time when the diversity of European languages was celebrated unashamedly and, yes, uncommercially? The idea of having most ESC compositions sung in English is wearing thin and it looks and sounds even funnier post-Brexit. Very few ESC winning songs have made it to the pinnacle of international success on the wings of language choice and even fewer winning singers have achieved global status, with the exceptions of Abba and Celine Dion who really had a lot more in their armour than just ESC tinsel.
A nation that opts to use its language for an ESC composition shows a maturity well beyond the festival's gaudy holograms on show every year. I give one example of a great song in Maltese that would have been a trailblazer on the ESC stage - The Travellers' Xemx u xita. To coin a metaphor from the band's name, music in any language indeed travels far.
An Irish stance
I see Ireland has made it clear that it has no plans to increase its corporate tax rate - at 12.5% one of the lowest in the developed world - to keep US President Joe Biden happy. It has actually declared it would be ready to scupper the American President's radical scheme for a global minimum rate.
The Irish finance minister, Paschal Donohoe, has in fact gone on record saying he has significant reservations over plans floated by Biden to encourage countries around the world to adopt minimum rates of corporate tax in order to prevent companies from shifting their profits and avoiding payments in future. In a Sky TV interview, he predicted that Ireland will maintain its 12.5% tax rate for many years to come. Donohoe added Ireland has really significant reservations regarding a global minimum effective tax rate status at such a level that it means only certain countries, and certain-size economies can benefit from that base.
Needless to say, the Irish stance is important, since Ireland is one of the countries whose agreement would be needed if the US is to succeed with its plans to overhaul global business taxation. But of course, the American proposal would primarily benefit the American economy and the other big economies, with particular reference to Germany and France which have been openly campaigning for such action within the European Union. And who cares what this would entail for the small economies? Like the "Pig Twelve" of European football.
Malta has also often shown its opposition to the idea of a common, pan-European corporate tax rate. I wonder what the boomerangists think about it or should we ask Herr Weber first?