There is a growing belief that those placed in the lower social strata -- by way of having a meagre income or being employed in precarious jobs -- will find themselves most vulnerable to the knocks that European economies will be absorbing in coming months.
If austerity will have to be introduced, it will moreover be necessary to take measures that prevent those who are already faring badly from getting to be worse. A number of governments are laying out social programmes intended to address this challenge. Ideas have been mooted for action as well at a European level.
This is all to the better and the Malta government seems to be heading also in this direction.
However another objective needs to be laid out. This is not to allow any company, public or private, to make exceptional or excessive profits on the back of any changes occuring in the economic scenario.
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“EVENTS DEAR BOY”
Once upon a time, long ago, when Harold Macmillan leader of the Conservative Party was Prime Minister in the UK, a journalist asked him what could most affect the running of the government. “Events, dear boy, events,” Macmillan replied.
Indeed, years later, Macmillan had to resign following the scandal caused by one of his ministers who lied to Parliament about how personally close he was to a Soviet spy.
In the near future, there might be a number of European governments who will find themselves strongly affected by “events”, in line with what long ago Macmillan was referring to.
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GORBACHEV
Gorbachev’s death opened wide the dam for the widespread global release of assessments, appreciations and analyses. There has been general agreement that his reform initiatives were a leading factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union and its governance system. For those who believed this was a good thing to happen, Gorbachev is a hero. He himself was not seeking such an outcome.
Still, even those who consider him to be a historical disaster (among whom President Putin) avoid asking the question as to whether, if the USSR had continued to develop the way Gorbachvv found it when he came to power, it would have remained viable. His was a clear conclusion: no. And for it to remain viable, it needed to introduce full transparency in the way it was managed, it needed to democratise its structures and it needed to loosen the strong ties it controlled at all levels with the Eastern European countries.