Bite Your Nose

The Times of Malta



My last contribution about tongue biting has triggered misplaced speculation about my real intentions for criticising the Head of the Owners of the Radio and TV station which he tasked me to chair in a non-executive capacity.

Whoever was shocked by my pre-election comments whilst holding a public appointment chairmanship of a` bank, was quick to extol my courage to criticise my boss;` little caring that the bit concerned served also the purpose of` a credibility builder for the real thrust of the whole tongue biting article. A poor model of consistency and small appreciation of Alfred Sant`s capacity for constructive internal criticism!

Biting one`s own tongue is fairly easy and is a healthy exercise we should indulge in more often.` More difficult is Government`s attempt to bite its own nose.

The results of the local elections of last Sunday have received the usual nauseating treatment of `we won - they lost` by both political sides. Whilst this posture is inevitable for public consumption, it is dangerously simplistic to miss the loud and clear message given by the results.

I maintain that these results carry a very scientific exposition of the mood in the country at large. The segment tested was a sizeable 40% of the national voters with a spread representing a very fair sample of the whole electorate.` No local election contested so far carry these credentials of credibility as this was the first time Labour contested local elections with full preparation.

The strong message given by the electorate is that the Nationalist party has lost 1.3% from the 1997 local election, better adjusted to around 2% to take account of former 1997 independent candidates who now contested under the PN banner, and nearly 3% from the results in the same localities of the last general elections.

More importantly is that the 2% or 3% swing, depending to what one is comparing with, crosses the important 50% threshold. It is one thing losing 2% or 3% but remaining above 50% and quite another losing the same margin and passing from above 50% to below 50%. The psychological barrier crossed cannot be neglected.

Can the government really now expect that it has realistic chances of winning an EU referendum if held on this side of the next general elections` Both political parties are already neck to neck and the government has still to prescribe many doses of sour medicine to bring the economy to EU compatible mode, hoping to alienate the electorate from the free lunches promised in the electoral manifesto.

By pressing on regardless to the mad rush towards EU membership as of 2003, the government is missing the electorate`s signal to slow down, to reason things out to explore not only the alternatives but also the proper time-scales for implementing such alternatives.

By pressing on regardless the Government is conditioning the electorate to vote against the EU membership for the wrong reasons, by psychologically linking the adjustment pain to the alignment for EU membership. It is giving the Opposition a free ride to win a referendum against EU membership without being obliged to explain its alternatives beyond the foreseeable future.

The message of the local election has to be read also between the lines. The country cannot approach such a strategic irreversible decision as EU membership when it is split right down the middle on this highly politicised issue.

True national leadership demands that the issue of the unavoidable pain to re-structure the economy be separated from the issue of Malta`s long-term future relations with the EU.` This should be postponed till after the next elections when the economy is in better shape to permit a smart and not a crisis decision. When our rights and obligations as prospective members are crystallised after the internal decision making rules of the EU are overhauled through the ICG, and after a newly and properly mandated government seeks greater convergence of thoughts between our two main political schools.

Achieving pre-mature EU membership is as elusive as biting one`s own nose.