Since the pandemic has been raging, governments everywhere had little choice if they intended to ensure their economy would stay afloat: they needed to open the gates of their treasuries and channel to citizens and enterprises sufficient funds that would prevent their collapse.
The rules which used to be enforced to keep bounds on the growth of debt were put aside. This is still happening two years on, but it cannot be sustainable for much longer. Some governments are finding it increasingly difficult to keep it up.
Others were relying on the fact that interest levels were low in recent years, to borrow extensively at market rates in order to provide their subsidies. As interest rates started to rise, the weight of the burdens that they had taken on is hitting them like a hammer blow.
The pandemic has been, still is, a difficult period to survive in. Many countries will be undergoing a difficult and delicate process as they seek to recover from the financial aftermath of Covid. A crucial factor in how this happens could be the feeling of optimism that will/will not develop among citizens-consumers to generate sustainable economic growth.
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THE ITALIAN PRESIDENCY
Italy’s President has powers that are hardly greater than the Maltese President’s. Still, his election is an elaborate affair and requires complicated negotiations between the political parties. Perhaps this is due to the method followed for the election, with an “electoral” college composed of MPs, senators and “local” representatives -- plus, if I understand correctly, no formal nomination mechanism.
The approach reflects the regional realities of the country which after all has not been constituted as a unitary state for so long. Political representatives coming from all areas could thus directly express themselves in the choice of the person who would be considered as the highest representative of the people as a whole.
The Fenech Adami government in its second administration between 1992 and 1996 had suggested a similar method for the selection of the President of Malta. I did not then agree with the proposal nor do I see it today as being relevant for Malta. We definitely do not have the regional diversity of Italy. And we have already been quite successful in complicating life for ourselves as Maltese; what we hardly need is a complicated system by which to elect the President!
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IS LITERATURE AT A DISADVANTAGE?
Compared to other art forms which are themselves under pressure, does literature suffer from even greater disadvantages when it comes to the interest and attention they are accorded by citizens?
I think so: in this country, reading is not given much priority when people decide how to spend their free time. As in other countries, the emergence of social media has continued to stifle much of the interest literature could have attracted. The less readers there are, the less the interest that can be mobilised.
On the other hand, published data (which I hope is reliable) indicates that the number of people who frequent lending libraries has been increasing from year to year.
About thirty years ago, because of the emergence of videos, cinema attendance in Malta declined hugely. People began to predict the death of all cinemas. Not so long after, the sector went through a big revival. Could literature experience some similar experience?