The Malta Independent 13 February 2025, Thursday
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Five years of Robert Abela’s leadership

Owen Bonnici Friday, 17 January 2025, 11:11 Last update: about 27 days ago

Five years ago, Robert Abela was elected Labour Party leader and became Malta's Prime Minister. Last Sunday, in Paola, we celebrated this occasion. It was a remarkable occasion. A large, enthusiastic, crowd welcomed Robert Abela and us, his team, on stage and the Prime Minister delivered an important speech highlighting the challenges that we faced in the past 5 years and how together we overcome those challenges. More importantly, he spoke about the future, the immediate and the long term, and the outlook is positive.

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Five years ago, Robert Abela took over from Prime Minister and party leader Joseph Muscat, who stormed to victory in 2013 and made Labour a party of government after nearly 25 years in the political wilderness.

Joseph Muscat inherited an economy that was not working, and that is to put it mildly. Under the Lawrence Gonzi administration, inflation was high, unemployment too, and foreign direct investment at an all-time low. Water and electricity prices soared as did the price of fuels. People wanted change, and Muscat gave them a fresh start.

Within a few months, the positive sentiment across the country started to reflect itself in our economy. When Muscat stepped down, Malta had a roaring economy, low unemployment, lower, much lower, water and electricity prices, and foreign direct investment boomed.

Robert Abela took helm of this buoyant economy, but within a few months at the helm, international mayhem struck, and global disaster ensued. Covid-19 ravaged the world economy. Hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost, and thousands of businesses went bust. Even worse, thousands lost their lives. It was an unprecedented global chaos. Schools closed, shops too - people were ordered to go into lockdown and avoid greeting each other.

They were very tough times. Malta, too, had its fair share of Covid and lives, though in much fewer numbers than in the rest of the EU, were lost. But the country managed to keep its head above the ravaging stormy waters. The government stepped in to save jobs and businesses, and the proverbial ship of state sailed across the fierce waves and made it safely to shore.

It was a ship captained by Prime Minister Robert Abela, with the rest of us, his cabinet ministers, doing our part on board, together with the rest of the Maltese and Gozitans whose resilience and determination to make it through this unprecedented situation prevailed. Many argued, and rightly so, that for Malta, a small country, to have made it through the Covid pandemic, that is a sign that we can prevail through any other challenges that come our way.

A general election came along, and Labour, with Robert Abela at the helm, secured a mammoth victory. It was the biggest electoral victory ever obtained by a political party in post-independence Malta.

But the international situation remained troublesome. Shortly after the pandemic abated, Russian tanks rolled into Kiev, Ukraine, and a war ensued. Lives were lost, and the global economy went once again into a fragile situation. Inflation soared, and global economic and political uncertainty prevailed. Malta, too, felt the causes of this war in Europe, and inflation raised its head.

However, once again, as it did during the Covid pandemic, the Labour Government, ably led by Robert Abela, averted the disaster experienced in other EU countries and beyond. The government stepped in to calm down inflation, keep water and electricity prices low, and fuel prices the lowest within the EU. That was no mean feat, but together, the government and the resilient people of Malta, we managed that too.

And now, at the beginning of 2025, we have the fastest growing economy within the eurozone, an all-time high employment rate, substantial foreign direct investment and the economic outlook, as certified by leading international institutions, including leading international credit agencies, is positive and encouraging.

Luck does not play a part in this. It never does. Success, especially in tough times, relies on leadership. A strong leadership at the helm of a country makes all the difference. Malta has a strong leader who is doing a remarkable job at the helm.

We are not perfect, of course. No one is. We have had our fair share of mistakes, and there are challenges that need to be addressed.

The Malta Labour Migration Policy, whose public consultation process has been launched recently, addresses the challenge of foreign workers in Malta.

Post 2013, Malta's fast-growing economy meant that foreign workers were needed. That situation continued up to today, and in no way is the government implying that going forward, no foreign workers shall be needed. That would be extremely shortsighted and plainly wrong. However, the government is aware that rather than numbers, quantity, the country now requires quality. The Malta Labour Migration Policy will do just that - ensuring that foreign workers in Malta contribute to a better quality of life and not at its expense.

The environment, too, needs further attention. A lot has been done, but the people ask, and rightly so, for a stronger, cleaner, and healthier environment. The government is aware of this need and is working to deliver just that.

Stronger institutions and a more effective good governance system, too, were identified as areas that the government needs to give more focus to, and it did.

A substantial number of reforms, prior to 2020 and post that, were undertaken to strengthen the rule of law, including a law deleting time-barring by prescription on claims of corruption by holders of political offices, a whistle-blower protection act, a party financing legislation, a new Parliamentary oversight mechanism on appointment of Chairpersons of main regulatory authorities and non-career Ambassadors, Constitutional reforms for the creation of a Judicial Appointments Committee, and reforms in the field of artistic and journalistic freedom of expression. I am honoured to have been Minister responsible for Justice during most of those key reforms.

I could go on about how, in the last five years, the arts and culture sectors underwent a revolution with both areas flourishing and local artists thriving locally and beyond our shores. But we can discuss that another time. I want to thank Prime Minister Robert Abela for his persuasive leadership and the excellent results that he achieved for our beloved country and its people since he took helm five years ago.

I am certain that the next five years shall, under Robert Abela's leadership, be even better.

 

 


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