The information that emerged from the agricultural census held up to 2020 is horrendous but not surprising. The farming sector is approaching a final exit. This outcome has nothing to do with the current government. It is a slow and clumsy death, that has been long foretold for those who wanted to see things as they are, not as they would like to see them.

Across all its activities, farming found itself being undermined and eliminated. Even milk production and marketing which appeared to be the best equipped to come to terms with competition are not in good shape.

The entry of Malta in the EU inevitably was bound to lead to the decay of its agriculture, although other factors did “help” the process forward. We had warned about this. We were ridiculed.

To paper over what was about to happen, subsidies and temporary aids were extended as of the first years of EU membership all meant to screen the reality. In no way were they sustainable in the format that they were given under.

And now the death foretold has come close. No doubt, there will be those who will go on denying this and they will will find support from all the usual lobbies.  

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IMMIGRATION

If I’m asked whether there have occurred any worthwhile developments in the implementation of a common European policy on immigration, I would say no. Of course, the whole issue also relates to the significance one could give to “worthwhile”.  For us in Malta, it would mean a step towards an arrangement among EU member states by which a fair and transparent share-out of the economic and social burdens would take place when irregular migrants arrive. It does not seem to me that there’s any hope this will happen in the short term.

The current French presidency has made a number of declarations to confirm the dynamism it wishes to inject in ongoing  exercises to secure agreement on pending dossiers. I doubt whether it will deploy its promised dynamism on the topic of immigration towards Europe. It is a politically sensitive subject in France, just as much as in Malta, perhaps more. By April/May, the French people will have voted in their presidential election.

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PAVEMENTS

So many millions have been spent on roads and new flyovers. A substantial proportion of the allocated funds came from the EU. This happened because according to Union rules, for Malta, there was little else on which to spend EU money according to established European criteria, if not on road infrastructure. Today at least, other wider and more relevant criteria have come into play, linked to the efforts against climate warming and for a digital transformation in Europe.

However meanwhile, as all this investment in roads was being carried out, another vital need was ignored. For, once again, it did not satisfy European criteria. Across the islands, pavements in our streets are and were left in disrepair, on occasion disastrously. From Valletta, to B’Kara and Mosta, Cottonera and Marsascala, dilapidated pavements create major problems for passers-by, but most of all parents with children in pushchairs and prams, as well as the elderly. The urgency to provide for better pavements that are fit for purpose, was always sidelined.