How interesting! Some of those who always militated to get Malta at all costs in the EU as a full member, are today being heard advocating that the Union should accord special treatment to "its" islands. Their situation puts them at huge disadvantage when implementing membership rules! Yet, these people always argued that as such, EU rules could only bring advantages. And that where they might create problems, the Union would introduce measures to buffer the negative effects they could have on the economies of small countries and/or islands.

The truth is that some aids were given by the EU. They were once-only. In many sectors, as of the membership date, competition was allowed in and could not be satisfactorily countered. Commitments that eroded further our competitivity were also assumed. Malta made progress in those sectors where EU rules were absent or minimal - like maritime services, financial services, internet gambling, tourism... In other sectors like agriculture and manufacturing, we regressed badly. But more recently, EU rules have been spreading into the "new" sectors where we have prospered...

Those who got us into this situation are now presenting themselves as defenders of Malta on the grounds of our being an island. An appropriate question is this: Where does their deep loyalty truly lie? With Malta? Or the EU?

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ELECTION FEVER

Election fever is growing. "Fever" is perhaps not the right word for it carries the undertones of discomfort and sickness. However elections and what leads to them are healthy exercises that confirm a country's democratic character. In any case, it does appear clearly that preparations for new elections are in full swing. Election candidates have begun to knock on doors. They're ramping up their social media messages.

Some consider that since election fever has become so strong, the best approach for the government would be to call the election. For if it carries on, leaving the election date hanging, it would provide the Opposition with an opportunity first to firmly establish its electoral machine. After that, it would be given another chance to hone the machine.

Not everybody agrees with this view.

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ECONOMIC IMPACTS

Banks, professional consultancies, news media, finance ministers among others, are following closely all aspects of the Iran war to be able to predict correctly its economic consequences for the rest of the world. For as of now, one outcome has certainly become clear: the war's impact will not be just regional - it is extending world-wide.

While inflation has been the consequence that got mentioned most frequently - at least in the war's initial stages - worries have now spread that shortages could arise of critical materials in the production of items which have become vital in modern economies - especially in communications. A problem has been that given the continuous progress in the technological systems which operate throughout the modern economy, it has become very difficult to build a model of how the global linkages which maintain these advances will be hit and will "respond"to the shock caused by the ongoing wars.