Beyond the political ding dong, I frequently meet people who are worried about the changes (which for them appear to be huge) that have been occurring around them. Not in public management, but in the life they lead. The traffic problem has been highlighted by all opinion polls as one of major concern, especially since accidents began to multiply.

However the ongoing population changes, with the big increase in the number of foreigners, are giving rise to concerns that are not triggered by the statements made on the subject by public  figures. It results from the direct experience of citizens as they go about living their ordinary lives, in shops, streets, blocks of residential  apartments.

Till quite recently, I used to think that such concerns were mostly of racial origin, with regard to African and Arab foreigners present here. If it really was that way, it no longer is. The concern now covers the presence of all foreigners  and the fear is that they are altering the character of whole localities.

So the question arises: independently of whether changes have been (still are) too great, have they also been happening too fast?

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ECONOMIC NICHES

I see it as an easy option, almost obvious, to claim that our economy needs to discover new niches of activity where to expand. Even so, at least two issues need to be cleared before setting out to make “discoveries”.

First we need to review the sectors that are already in operation to understand where they are failing, where they are being a success, and where they still have a useful role to play, where not. About them, especially if their contribution is still of major importance, like for industry and tourism, action would need to be taken to ensure they get the right attention and resources to continue to develop.

Secondly, in the quest for “new” sectors we need a compass that sets the criteria regarding how this should be done: How much time will be given to carry out the exercise? What resources will be available to make sure it is carried out properly? And who will be the persons charged with directing the process? Such matters cannot be decided in a minute.

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OURS IS BEST!

Frequently one remains amazed at how many ... or better, how we all... find every reason to resist whichever changes are being proposed to what we are accustomed to do.

This happens in day to day living and equally in the conduct of public and private affairs. Even when the latter are going through a bad patch or indeed doing less well than formerly, we still remain attached to “inherited” ways of doing things. Our way is the best, and if somebody else’s way is not so bad after all, ours remains the better way.

There was a time when I used to believe that this attitude had become so profoundly anchored in the Maltese mentality because in a small community, a rather conservative approach gets necessarily adopted in order to safeguard the community’s identity and to preserve coherence among its members.

As I could again observe at the European Parliament however, even persons coming from much larger societies arrive with a similar mindset. Among them and not least German and French representatives.