In a number of European countries, feelings of anxiety have spread at the state of affairs in the economy, political developments, indeed defence and security. Clearly, Putin’s war has given rise to huge uncertainties and the fear of what might come next is troubling people. Then the steep rise in prices has disturbed the everyday life of many families, especially as it happened in two areas where they get quickly felt -- fuel and energy; food.

However, it could also be that the way by which confidence has been lost in some pillars of governance is creating mistrust.

--Up to quite recently, central banks were complaining in a big way about how prices had stagnated too much and for too long. They never predicted the inflation that is currently rolling

--In their response to the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, the Europeans and others set out sanctions against Russia. Some people have been asking: When these sanctions were decided, was it not predicted that Putin would retaliate by stopping the provision of natural gas supplies? -- and therefore, were measures taken beforehand to counter such a move?

All such factors are contributing to the prevailing sense of anxiety.  

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THE SAME MISTAKES

As of today, I still feel astonishment at how we go on repeating the same mistakes. In the private sector for instance, as soon as an activity appears to be prospering,  clusters of businessmen will swarm towards it. Very soon, too many jaws will be reaching out to gnaw at the same bone... with the result that many businesses lose out. Over the years, this has been happening in the fields of modern retailing, the construction of offices and hotels, transport services, and now I guess in the field of meal deliveries at homes.

Governments have not failed to make the same mistake: like in transport via catamaran and permits for a fast ferry to Gozo, street construction and the creation of new big projects on the Smart City model which end up quite different to what they get promoted as.

From where comes our ability to keep on repeating the same mistakes?   

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MIXED ENTERPRISES

We could have given more importance over the years to the concept of the mixed enterprise -- one in which the government and the private sector together participate equally in a venture.  In this context it would be better not to have just one or a few private entrepreneurs taking part, but also many small investors who will be expecting to obtain from their shares a regular annual income greater than what they would get by depositing their money in the bank.

This requirement would place on the enterprise the obligation to make profits in order to satisfy the expectations of its investors. So there would be an inbuilt discipline for the enterprise not to take on unnecessary costs, which is what frequently happens when the government is running an entity all on its own.

The best example we have of how this can run (though you could hardly call it a perfect model) is the Bank of Valletta. To be fair, one should acknowledge that it was introduced in Malta by notary Gorġ Bonello du Puis, a Nationalist finance minister of the late 1980s.