I well remember how the enthusiasts who wanted Malta to join the EU at all costs would insist that once this step was taken, Maltese politics would be imbued with the values of the Union and would thereby adopt European perspectives.
Today, more than fifteen years later, it is difficult to recognize some “European” perspective in what the government and the opposition have to say. The Union mostly comes into debates when the announcement of funds that will arrive from Brussels is about to be made, or when it becomes necessary to explain to people why some attractive way of going about things is politically impossible for it conflicts with the Union’s rules.
For the rest...
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PICNIC AREA
One cannot but become apprehensive on learning that some authority or other has decided to convert some stretch of land, not infrequently in a green zone, into a “picnic area” for the greater benefit of the people.
For what happens then? A substantial portion of this land becomes a sizeable parking lot while in other parts, concrete pathways are laid out. Here and there, young trees get planted in the expectation that they will soon reach maturity, so that close to them benches are positioned.
Initially the location will be quite popular. Soon, it becomes cluttered with cans, bottles, paper and rubbish, some left all over the place, some collected in big tanks placed at the side. Whatever greenery there is gets trodden on and the trees seem to be having problems coming to their own.
The whole area starts looking run down, even dirty. Very few go there for a “picnic”. It becomes the favourite haunt of the street cats in the vicinity. In the evening, dubious characters copy the cats and go there, some because they’re interested in businesses that up to now still are illegal, for indeed the so-called “picnic area” provides suitable facilities where they can carry on with their affairs.
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REACHING AN AGREEMENT
Apart from the fact that no precedent exists for it, an agreement between socialists, greens and liberals in Germany following the recent elections there must inevitably bump against many obstacles, not least in the financial sector.
This is so not only because there is a keen competition for who is going to be the next Geman finance minister.
Focussed as they are on the need for full action to be taken against climate warming, the greens are prepared to do all it takes to achieve such action, including an increase in taxes on economic sectors that contribute to climate warming, plus new taxes on the wealth of high income earners so that more funds become available for the investments needed. They worry relatively little about whether as a result, the public deficit will rise or not.
Above all, the liberals want government finances to go back to balance while eurozone rules about deficits are fully respected; they want no change to these rules. Liberals stand against new taxes on wealth and on industries which employ many people while contributing to environmental degradation and climate warming.
The socialists, now led by the man who has just served as Merkel’s finance minister, would like to appear as green as the greens, do not wish to preside over an increase in the deficit, are cautious about the need for new taxes, but would probably be prepared to discuss a review of the eurozone’s budgetary rules.