Tag: PN

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Campaign 2013 Dalligate Mediawatch Politics

Men of the Moment

“We need a contest”. Prime Minister Gonzi apparently believes that a bit of competition would be healthy for his party. In a way you cannot blame him. The opposition is anything but good competition in that respect given how it seems to be banking solely on the concept of “victory by default”. Joseph Muscat’s schizophrenic approach (the country needs an election yesterday but we won’t tell you our plans because election time is not here yet) does little to force the debate down to practical terms and Gonzi’s team are stuck in an eternal time loop of the clichéd criticism (same faces).

We want a fight from our rightful parties

I’d love to have the parties trade blows on factual positions. Energy for example – not just highlighting what is bad and what has been done wrong but rather what will be done in the future. The same goes for a myriad other topics: water alone takes a prime place in future planning priorities – from floodings to wastage to the cost of providing water services efficiently. Health? Beyond the hospitals is there a concrete position on health care and its weight on the national budget? How do the behemoths fare on that. The nationalist party has been busy waving new “rights” in our faces – and depending on whether you believe new government appointee Antonio Ghio or IT Law Department guru Cannataci it is not clear whether we are getting this business of rights right.

Then there were the recent bandwagons such as censorship. Apparently it is dead and if you believe people like Owen Bonnici it’s thanks to the divorce debate that censorship was finally tackled. You couldn’t make it up if you wanted to (unless you were Robert Musumeci on a tautological aphorism generating trip ). The big issues lie ahead unsafely entrenched in a minefield of fence-sitters and conservative loonies. IVF, abortion (yep the big A), gay marriage, adoption by same-sex couples – don’t be amazed if we get to an election without clear positions on all these points in a manifesto (except for AD of course but they don’t count).

We want positions, we want battles over positions. Instead we get billboards. DWLLWGAF?

Dalligate and its leftovers

Did you notice how John Dalli’s moment in the international limelight petered away quietly? Oh of course, you will get your columnist in some agenda-driven papers trying to highlight the strength of the tobacco lobby or the weaknesses of some EU institution or another but in general terms Dalligate (now termed Snusgate by some) is unfolding into the two-dimensional issue that we had predicted early on. Why?

Well. On a European level Dalli finds himself with little to argue with. All his hopes seem to be pinned on a report that remains hidden from public eyes. On the other hand his random interventions before an ogling public at the height of the news items’ four days of fame have produced such gems as his justification of the use of canvassers as intermediaries for Commissioner business. That in itself negated the need of the results of the OLAF report becoming public. Put simply Dalli had confirmed with his own words that his modus operandi made him anything but unimpeachable. Ceasar’s wife was not above suspicion. We can leave the legal bickering on whether a sacking it was to his lawyers but on a political level Dalli’s way of working – though not illegal per se – was sufficient to raise enough eyebrows and get him kicked out of the Commission.

Does it really matter whether Barroso did it out of spite? Not really. What matters here is that Dalli (with Mr Zammit) left a door open wide enough to create the pretext for his elimination from the Commission. It will be up to his successors (and future Council meetings) to clear this messy state of affairs and to ensure that such situations are more clearly regulated. On a European level the pie is all over the place. A dark cloud remains on the modus operandi of the tobacco lobby, on the workings of OLAF itself, on the potential conflict of interest by some members of the Supervisory board and on the Commission (including its relations with member states). There is also no denying that Malta’s reaction as a state to the Dalli sacking would have been different had it been any other politician than the one who had burnt all his bridges with his own capital. If journalists could come up with probing questions about the iter of the sacking process then I am sure in that in the rear corridors of power a properly placed question regarding one’s own nominee would have been due.

After Dalli

After Dalli we get Borg. Another one. Was he a safe nomination? Well we can never be too sure. Let us start with the party/government that nominated him. The reasons behind the nomination are very evidently based on a mixture of self-preservation and priorities that put Maltese issues firmly above anything European. Nothing that has not happened elsewhere in Europe. Still they must be noted. I’d insist that the most ideal candidate for that position had been “burnt” thanks to the inability of the PN to control its dissenters. That too must be noted. Within Richard Cachia Caruana’s CV there will forever remain the blemish of a parliamentary vote that claims to de facto have found him guilty of having worked against Malta’s interests. No matter that the discussion and vote did anything but prove that point.

Borg goes to Brussels with a heavy baggage that no amount of excess fines can justify. His position within the ideological framework of the nationalist party has clearly been one of the hard-line christian democrat that stops just short of wearing a cassock. Although I would dare say that his views do not necessarily reflect those of the majority of persons of a nationalist persuasion (given the panoply of values that have recently been swallowed like a bitter pill for vote purposes) he still managed to throw them around forcibly like some latter day Savonarola. From the treatment of immigrants to positions on IVF, divorce and gay marriages we cannot really say that Borg is exporting a bit of liberal Malta to the Commission.

In any other time this would be neither here nor there – and this coming from a blog that still sees Buttiglione’s rejection as substantially unfair and legally incorrect. This is not any other time though. This is Malta reeling from pie on its face that results from its last nominee becoming the first Commissioner to resign individually. Even without the greens and socialists giving Borg a hard time the chances of some more pie on the face are quite high. Having said that there is also the possibility that Borg softens his hard-line approach on a European level and keeps his personal views to himself. The Commissioner role after all is about a Commission agenda and not a personal one.

The Contest

And after Borg? Well the John Dalli news must have been a godsend to PM Gonzi. As the nationalist party announces a protracted campaign for the Deputy Leader contest (practically one month including two weeks for nominations) you can see how much time can be wasted on what is essentially a pointless race. Yes, you read right. Pointless.As Tonio Fenech and Mario De Marco giggle away with reporters – “I’ll be your campaign manager” joked De Marco, “Madonna, what’s the rush” replied Fenech, prompting Mario to check if there was someone else in the room – you sense that this is yet another transparent time killing manoeuvre. Yes, this is the moment when the striker for the team that is winning in extra time notices he is about to be subbed so he rushes to the farthest point on the pitch before developing a sudden bout of walking-itis that would make for First Secretary at the Ministry of Funny Walks.

Suddenly the post of Deputy Leader has become the most important position in the universe and even the resignation of iOS6 responsible Scott Forstall pales in comparison (it doesn’t really, Apple’s turnover is many many many times larger than Malta’s economic worth). Previously this Deputy Leader business might have been considered an anointment for the future leader of the PN. Previously though there were much less strands and cliques within the party. Forget the thin veneer of a united face that is about as convincing as a Halloween mask designed by a three year old. This Deputy will be a deputy in any case. Whoever is elected will still have to face a new battle should the place for leader become vacant. I doubt that at that moment there will be any “power of the incumbent deputy” issues to deal with because chances are that “that moment” will be a time of renewal for the whole party.

So as I said. Gonzi is not lying when he says “We need a contest”. Don’t get all confused by the “we need a contest” bit though. The only benefit of this contest is that it is a welcome distraction from the “election today, election tomorrow” uncertainty and, if the rumours that Franco Debono is interested in contesting are true then there’s one hell of a distracted person that can be kept busy at least till the end of November when he will get his first reality check with the PN Councillor votes. (Last time round there were 818 of them voting).

Sandy

Hurricanes like Sandy really give us a sense of perspective. Battered by winds and water New York (and, lest we forget much of the Caribbean and East Coast) has suffered heavy damage and loss of human life. Reactions by Presidential candidates Obama and Romney just a week away from the elections should serve as a lesson to many politicians the world over. When in doubt do the most decent thing possible.

 

J’accuse will be silent over this All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints and Dia de los muertos. It’s wedding anniversary weekend and we’ll be heading to the Languedoc region hoping for the last of the sunny warmth.

Categories
Dalligate

Dalligate avec du recul – (Part II – Regrets they have a few)

The day Dalli resigned from the Commission (or was forced to resign if you prefer) I got a call from Malta. “They’ve just mentioned his resignation on RTK. Is he preparing for the election too?” You couldn’t fault this way of thinking if you wanted to. A man had just resigned from probably one of the highest posts within the European Union and the first thought that probably sprung to the mind of many Maltese was in relation to the forthcoming national elections. Will Dalli be back like a latter-day Schwarzenegger? Slowly, as events unfolded it became more and more clear that Dalli was out through no choice of his own but this did not assuage the thirst for Melito-centric interpretations of the goings-on.

Again, we were still in “hazy-fact” land when the tribal delineations began to take shape. It wasn’t hard to second-guess really though in some cases the conclusions drawn could be surprising. Dalli was the man kicked upstairs by the nationalist party to what he seemed to uncannily consider his “Siberia”. His rather frequent raids into the Maltese political scene were at best described as indecorous (for a Commissioner) and at worst clumsy. Three issues stick out like an ugly wart on a halloween mask: (1) first there was the questionable business in relation to energy and SARGAS (in apparent partnership with a future labour government), (2) then there was his intervention as a witness for Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando in the little farce court held at Dar Centrali, and finally, on a rather different (and perhaps more crucial level) was (3) his baffling intervention during the Libyan Spring that had Barroso fuming at the collar.

Dalli had definitely positioned himself firmly away from the “ungrateful” (in Franco Debono terminology) PN constellation and was busy cosying up to the rebels on the one hand and the opposition on the other. He could have let this all go by and concentrated on fulfilling a prosperous term as Commissioner. This would have done his CV a load of good, even in Melito-centric Malta, and who knows whether by the end of his term he would not have preferred pastures new far away from whatever counts for politics on the island these days. We won’t know though, and never will, and one of the reasons is that John Dalli has Silvio Zammit as an acquaintance, probably has him down as a business partner, more probably still as some form of confidant. I insist on the probably at this stage because I prefer to wait for the concrete proof to come out (as always).

So yes. We were saying. Dalli resigned and next thing we knew it was connected to charges of fraud and trading in influence. What happened next was very telling. I’ll try to summarise a few of the positions:

The Greater PN Benefit

I couldn’t really fathom this one, but that’s probably because I try to think in logical order and not through conspiracy theory smoke. Essentially there were varying degrees within this faction but the underlying theme seemed to be one: Dalli’s disgrace is PN’s gain. Funny that. No matter how much acrimony Dalli had shown to the PN in the past months, he remained a Commissioner nominated by the present Prime Minister. A disgraced commissioner is a disgraced nominee for the country. I had immediately blogged on that point  (The Surreal Case of (ex) Commissioner Dalli) and pointed out what seemed to be the obvious, namely that not only was PN’s nominee disgraced but this was compounded by the fact that it was evident to many that this nomination was the result of the party putting its interests before the nation’s.

The We Told You So Brigade

Which brings me to the “we told you so” brigade that numbers among its ranks the heavyweight blogger on the Runs. Daphne was in a way proved right to have pointed out that Dalli was a problem that should never have been exported. With hindsight the nomination of a volatile figure such as Dalli seems counter-productive. The underlying reason for the nomination was very evidently the exportation of an inconvenience (best encapsulated in the phrase “kicked upstairs”) than the result of a search of the most suitable person for the Commission post. In macchiavellian, “The Thick of It” terms, Dalli had already turned into a sort of untouchable outcast politically speaking and by nominating him to the Commissioner’s post this problem would not simply vanish.

The Conspiracy Theory

Inevitably you had the usual suspects hanging on to John Dalli and praying and hoping that this was some weird conspiracy theory by those evil schemers at PN HQ who needed to rid themselves of this evil economist before the actual election run up. Needless to say that if the people in Pietà are really that stupid to hoist a petard under Malta’s reputation abroad simply to get John and his retinue out of the national election equation then really this country is in the pits. You did have what would become the MaltaToday line of journalism (coupled with ONE News and its corollaries) trying hard on the “entrapment” line – nothing to do with Paul Borg Olivier slyly laying an email trap on Silvio but rather the “Evil Tobacco Industry” pulling a smart one like, you know, they do in Hollywood movies. That case remains a weak case – two days on and is fast running dry of ideas. I still have one question in this respect though: What is John Dalli’s level of interest in MaltaToday? I’m not holding my breath for any answers.

So those were the main battle lines. Poor Dalli was doomed in most cases as a nation of sleuths set to work trying to delve deeper into Dalligate. Interestingly the Dalli bomb relegated many many issue to a secondary level. Parliament and its convoluted agenda were momentarily forgotten, no “iggranfat mas-siggu tal-poter” and no calls for early election. Even Joseph Muscat learnt his lesson and announced a “cautious approach” to the matter.

The first indication of the transmogrification of Dalligate into electoral spin came, unsurprisingly from the nationalist corner of the ring. It was inevitable because Labour were still reeling from the obvious problem of guilt by association. For too long now had they courted the disgruntled Dalli and, worse still, they had often hinted that part of their energy plan involved Mr Dalli and his Nordic contacts (oh sweet irony of ironies). The Nationalist party should have been reeling too. As I explained earlier they were the nominating party for BOTH persons involved in the scandal. A Nationalist Commissioner and a Nationalist Deputy Mayor hailing from that great college of upright councillors that is Sliema. So in the first place we got silence. A whole bloody wall of it.

Which left space for the usual noisy bunch. The first indication of a plan, a suggestion, for making use of Dalligate to PN’s advantage came from Daphne Caruana Galizia on her Thursday column. The plan was the tried and tested “guilt by association” and was built very much on what Labour probably feared the moment Dalli’s resignation came out. It was simple really – Dalli, thanks to his recent dealings and appearances was not really a nationalist Commissioner. No siree, Dalli was to be slammed with the worst label in the nationalist political book: he was “Labour”. It’s just like the Franco treatment of late. You know “he deserves to be with Joseph’s skip, dak Mintoffjan”. The equation worked out the logical leaps for you. Dalli is Labour. Dalli worked with Labour. Dalli’s plans for a future Labour government make him even more Labour. So Dalli’s resignation is tantamount to a full blown Labour loss.

Which is in part true and reasonable. From a Maltese point of view and if you were to ignore all the happenings at Commission level (and the fact that the offer, the bribe and the report relate to many things but to nothing Labour) the recent appearances by Commissioner Dalli made him in the least a “non-nationalist” and at the most someone who comfortably beds with Labour. The script was there for all to see and the Runs made sure that regular postings reminding us of Dalli’s recent supposed ills reinforced this theory. Little surprise therefore that after a trip to Brussels for the latest information Malta’s avant-garde investigative journalist returned to produce a programme sans-guests that seemed to have been ghost written by Daphne Caruana Galizia. I needed more than one ‘kerchief to stop the tears from flowing when Lou spoke of his “witnesses” who could place Dalli and Silvio at Peppis between March and May. Really Lou? Your “eyewitnesses”? Pity Daffers blogged about them first.

Slamming Dalli and slamming Labour might be convenient but it misses one major participant. It depends on Lawrence Gonzi admitting that his nominating John Dalli as Commissioner was with hindsight an error of judgement. You see, no matter how pro-Labour Dalli’s slant had begun there is no denying that he was in Brussels (with Silvio) thanks to the kicking upstairs by our PM. It would seem that the pitch by the DCG-Bondi duo was not to be taken up by Lawrence Gonzi:

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi vehemently refused to pass any comments on Commissioner John Dalli’s resignation but said he is not sorry he took the decision to appoint him Commissioner instead of Joe Borg in 2010. Asked to give his reaction on the negative impact on Malta’s image due to Mr Dalli’s resignation, the Prime Minister only said that he did not want to pass judgement. (…) Asked whether, with hindsight, it was a mistake to appoint John Dalli  Commissioner, Dr Gonzi defended his decision and said he was not sorry for his decision. (Times)

There you go. No regrets. Which means that the prodigal son was not refuted. Once again I agree with Daphne and believe that this is a statement that Dr Gonzi might come to regret – even on a purely political level. Our Prime Minister has other pressing issues in mind though – first among which is the nomination of a new commissioner.

The New Commissioner

First of all let us simply agree that Labour’s calls for a “consensus commissioner” are ridiculous at this stage. They come from the same school of constitutional law as Franco Debono’s or Robert Musumeci’s. The interesting bit is that notwithstanding the fact that the PN might have learnt its lesson about putting the party’s interests before the nation it might find itself in the unenviable position of being unable to do otherwise.

Why? Simple. Whoever gets sent to Brussels is almost definitely out of the running for next election. Not to mention that whoever goes to Brussels is also out of campaign planning. The most suitable candidate has been tainted by the kangaroo court parliament show. Yes, I’m speaking of Ambassador (emeritus) Richard Cachia Caruana. Should Lawrence Gonzi nominate him as Commissioner (a post he is undoubtedly suited to perform) this would be the end of the nationalist campaign and the opening of an unassailable gap in the polls. Worse still, Cachia Caruana is a crucial behind the scenes participant in PN electoral planning and it would be hard to replace such a player at this stage.

Other suitable candidates from among the party giants could also be considered a “waste” in party terms. A Chris Said or a De Marco for example would be an unhappy wastage for the PN. You could consider an outgoing politician but do you really imagine Austin Gatt in Brussels? The good thing is that he would take Delia with him. Or maybe not. Michael Frendo? Tonio Borg? Possibly. Definitely not Simon Busuttil – too many votes to be lost with him away though again his would be a perfect fit. Which leaves us with the least controversial option. Louis Galea, currently sitting at the Court of Auditors, would slide into the job without so much as a whimper. He’s already been assessed for the suitability of holding a high profile EU post, is already up to date with EU institutional workings and hey, he’s a smart politician, which is not so common these days. In a way Galea’s nomination would lessen the impact of what would otherwise be a case of PN priorities trumping national priorities.

Preliminary Conclusions

It’s a tough call and there’s much more to write but this post is already too long for my liking. (A call back to the days of my Indy columns). There’s much more to mull about but one thing is for certain… Dalligate is not short of repercussions on the Maltese side of the scandal.

 

 

 

Categories
Campaign 2013

The surreal case of (ex) Commissioner Dalli

The next time there is an election for Sliema’s local council don’t expect a long list of potential candidates queueing outside Paul Borg Olivier’s door.  Silvio Zammit (no relation) is the latest PN councillor (and deputy mayor) to resign from his post citing “personal reasons”. Of course, the fact that he is embroiled in the scandal that has rocked the European Commission might be much more than a personal reason but hey… who’s nitpicking here? At the time of writing this post we do not have much to rely upon other than a statement by John Dalli (no surprise there – denial of involvement) and press statements by the Commission shedding light on the results of an OLAF (anti-Fraud office) report into the matter.

The unavailability of any further facts precludes anyone from acting as judge and jury on John Dalli, Silvio Zammit or the OLAF office for all that matters – without facts it is all based on speculation. This does not mean however that the goings-on over the last 24 hours do not merit more than a passing observation since a number of conclusions can be drawn – irrespective of the where the final proof will ultimately take us. Here goes:

1. Malta’s shame – PN’s dishonour

There’s a scandal in the Commission and it involves a Maltese nominated Commissioner. No amount of “boo-ya I told you so” celebrations on the part of some anti-Dalli factions within the PN will compensate for that one. If, as seems to be the general theory, the post of Commissioner was used as a sort of “kicking upstairs” of an inconvenient politician (a policy that seems to make party priorities trump national interest) then it is clear where the responsibility lies. If a one-man show blog could come up with this kind of CV for Dalli we can really see the nomination for Commissioner in perspective.

In comparison to the pie-on-the-face that comes along with a disgraced Commissioner, the  Silvio Zammit bit of the scandal is tantamount to a few crumbs on one’s beard. Be that as it may, it is no insignificant fact that Silvio Zammit was until a few hours ago a PN councillor who ran for elections in a locality on a PN ticket. The mere existence of the emails linking him with the Swedish company suffice to demonstrate that Silvio Zammit is used to an unorthodox way of approaching politics and that is a euphemism. His antics have contributed to adding him to an increasingly long list of ex-PN councillors who fail to understand the basic concept of proper political behaviour. This is a massive fail for the nationalist party – a huge glitch in the system that can only be exacerbated if the right scrutiny is not exercised on future candidates: at both local and national level.

2. Media wars

There was a banal exercise of mental masturbation yesterday as different “media companies” battled for the unenviable prize of having “broken the news” of Dalli’s resignation. I first heard of it via a phone call of a relative of mine who told me that RTK had just included a flash news in the bulletin. I am no authority on “who came first” in this instance though and quite frankly being first to get the news is nowadays much less important since the “scoop” is liable to lose its unique value in minutes if not seconds. What is more important is getting the right news and the right information. Not giving the news a particular slant at an early stage is important (as Natalino Fenech rightly could teach a few elements within the Labour party) .

So what did we know and what did the media tell us? Here’s a list of statements lifted from different media sources with a CONFIRMED OR UNVERIFIED quotient:

  1. 1. John Dalli has resigned from his post of Commissioner – (CONFIRMED) – (ALL NEWS)
  2. His resignation follows an OLAF investigation into alleged fraudulent activities – (CONFIRMED) – (ALL NEWS)
  3. The alleged activities involve contacts between a businessman and acquaintance of John Dalli & a Swedish Tobacco company (CONFIRMED) – (CM RELEASE)
  4. OLAF found conclusive proof of exchanges between this businessman and the Swedish Company. (CONFIRMED) – (REPORTS OF EMAILS & CM RELEASE)
  5. The OLAF report did not find any conclusive evidence of the direct participation of Mr Dalli but did consider that he was aware of these events (CONFIRMED) – (CM RELEASE)
  6. John Dalli categorically denies being aware of these events (CONFIRMED) – (PBS TVHEMM interview)
  7. The OLAF report showed clearly that the European Commission’s decision-making process and the position of the services concerned has not been affected at all by the matters under investigation. (CONFIRMED) – (CM RELEASE)
  8. The corrupt activity involved a Maltese businessman named as Silvio Zammit (TIMES, MALTATODAY, DI-VE – no explanation of how his name is out).
  9. The corrupt activity involved a Maltese entrepreneur who had approached the company using his contacts with Mr Dalli and sought to gain financial advantages in exchange for influence over a possible future legislative proposal on snus. (CONFIRMED – CM RELEASE, OLAF REPORT)

At this point we have to look at an article by MaltaToday that stands out for a particular slant that it gives to the correspondence between Zammit and Swedish Match. All the information gleaned from most sources (and in particular the Commission’s press statement) indicated that Zammit had contacted Swedish Match and that he “sought to gain financial advantages in exchange for influence over a possible future legislative proposal”. Whatever way that is read you get the idea that Zammit contacted Swedish Match and offered to use his confidence with John Dalli in order to influence future Tobacco law. The phrase “sought to gain financial advantage” clearly implies that Zammit offered his services for a fee.

Yet. And this is a bit yet. Maltatoday, having claimed to have seen part or all of the email exchange, titles its article “Silvio Zammit was offered fee to set up meeting with John Dalli – email“. In the article in question we find the following paragraphs:

MaltaToday is informed that Zammit was in contact with Swedish Match over the possibility of influencing John Dalli ahead of a major revision of the Tobacco Products Directive that would have further regulated the access of tobacco to minors and other non-tobacco products like Swedish Match’s snus.

Swedish Match told MaltaToday that had they received an “indecent proposal that was a real and credible offer” by a Maltese businessman who claimed he could influence Dalli on his anti-tobacco legislation.

According to the email between Zammit and Swedish Match, the Nationalist councillor was offered a fee to broker a meeting between the company and John Dalli.

This information does not result from any other publicly available piece of news. MaltaToday is giving a diametrically opposite twist to the events by implying that “according to the email between Zammit and Swedish match”, Silvio Zammit was offered a fee to broker a meeting between the company and John Dalli. So it would seem that rather than sending an email to the Swedish company in which he offered his services in exchange for a fee, Zammit – once contact was established – actually received an offer of a fee to broker the meeting. Which would be rather strange since the Swedish company then proceeded to report the facts to the Commission/OLAF for investigation.

It is in John Dalli’s interests to first and foremost prove that he had no knowledge of the going-on. Insofar as the current situation is concerned that would exclude him from the corrupt activities that allegedly involve the former Sliema PN Councillor. Whether or not the Swedish company or Silvio Zammit was doing the “offering” is irrelevant to John Dalli once he manages to prove that he was extraneous to the whole events.

Meanwhile, MaltaToday would do well to either publish the emails in its possession or rewrite the article in question in order to eliminate any ambiguity. Unless of course ambiguity was the original intention of the article (not that the headline leaves much space to imagination).

3. Conclusions

In this pre-election run up Dalli finds himself once again out of the game. New scandals, new allegations mean that any aspirations he had to join the dagger-fest that is brewing in Pietà must perforce be put on hold. The nationalist party does not come out of this series of events any stronger. Pie on Dalli’s face is pie on Lawrence Gonzi’s nomination for commissioner – a serious post that commands respect (which also puts a huge petard on the ridiculous conspiracy theories involving a nationalist plot to rid themselves of Dalli).

For starters the PN government has to nominate a new commissioner – and if this is to be a valid, face-saving politician it means disqualifying one of the big guns from the forthcoming national election. Tonio Borg is being mentioned and I would not be surprised if Simon Busuttil get a few virtual votes either. Everybody seems to be forgetting about our Ambassador Emeritus at this point – who better to sit wisely on a Commission seat? Labour exponents seem to be fantasticating about “Labour’s right” to nominate the commissioner. Nothing would be more ridiculous. That bright europarliamentarian Joseph Cuschieri has even suggested Alfred Sant – of course, Alfred “Switzerland in the Mediterranean” Sant. As they like to say with so much tongue in cheek in their parts… bir-rispett kollu!

As for Silvio Zammit. Well, he is definitely not the last of the PN circus act (pardon the pun) to have hit a brick wall when it comes to politics. Unless something is done about having a proper school of politicians – not the yes men kind who dwell on the mistaken idea that it is all about power and networking – then we surely have more surprises in the waiting from the nationalist party stables.

 

******

CM RELEASE – PRESS STATEMENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION – 16 OCTOBER 2012

Press statement on behalf of the European Commission

Commissioner John Dalli has today announced his resignation as a member of the Commission, with immediate effect.

Mr Dalli informed the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso of his decision following an investigation by OLAF, the EU’s antifraud office, into a complaint made in May 2012 by the tobacco producer, Swedish Match. The company alleged that a Maltese entrepreneur had used his contacts with Mr Dalli to try to gain financial advantages from the company in return for seeking to influence a possible future legislative proposal on tobacco products, in particular on the EU export ban on snus . As soon as the Commission received the complaint it immediately requested OLAF to investigate.

The OLAF final report was sent to the Commission on 15 October. It found that the Maltese entrepreneur had approached the company using his contacts with Mr Dalli and sought to gain financial advantages in exchange for influence over a possible future legislative proposal on snus. No transaction was concluded between the company and the entrepreneur and no payment was made. The OLAF report did not find any conclusive evidence of the direct participation of Mr Dalli but did consider that he was aware of these events.

The OLAF report showed clearly that the European Commission’s decision making process and the position of the services concerned has not been affected at all by the matters under investigation.

The final OLAF report and its recommendations are being sent by OLAF to the Attorney General of Malta. It will now be for the Maltese judiciary to decide how to follow up.

After the President informed Mr Dalli about the report received from OLAF, Mr Dalli decided to resign in order to be able to defend his reputation and that of the Commission. Mr Dalli categorically rejects these findings.

Mr Barroso has decided that Vice President Maros Sefcovic will take over the portfolio of Mr Dalli on an interim basis until a new Commissioner of Maltese nationality is appointed in accordance with article 246 (2) of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union.

Mr Giovanni Kessler, Director-General of OLAF will be available in the press room after the midday briefing tomorrow.

Categories
Campaign 2013

Future views

Until I find time to post about “the issues that aren’t” I’d like to take a quick look (and provocation) at the idea of “the future” that has slipped in among the top hit concepts in Maltese political discourse.

“The future” and its natural antithesis “the past” feature prominently both as the centre-stage of marketing spin as well as the obvious underpinning building blocks behind most arguments. It is of course inevitable that if you are plugging change from a situation of quasi-inertia you will be pushing an agenda that automatically projects you to a future that is (another catch-word) different. This is a key question at this point in time since change and difference are strong selling points once you accept that the current situation just won’t do.

On a superficial level – one that is easily pricked into reaction by billboards that provoke and appeal to the instant idea – being associated with the past is supposed to be an immediate point-killer. You’re stuck in the middle ages, you’re backward or you’ve failed to shed some heavy luggage. Unless of course you manage to retaliate that too much talk of the past implies a misplaced nostalgia or, worse still, a deceptive lie. The bad thing about the past – in marketing terms – is that it lies there like a giant wart for all to see. It has happened. It is a fact. Indisputably so. You can hardly contradict it without engaging on a principled level – without talking politics.

The future? Now that’s something else. Campaigns built on the future appeal on a number of levels. Look at Obama’s hope-filled “Yes we can” campaign. It’s all about what could be done in the future. It builds on aspirations and desire for change. Look closer to home. Sarkozy’s “Ensemble tout est possible” cloned to the PN’s “Flimkien kollox possibli” relied on a promise that working together could make everything possible. That was when the promise was still a future possibility. We’ve seen how that “together” quickly crumbled to an impossibility – that future is now another past, another wart crying out to be analysed.

Joseph Muscat and Labour are trying hard to portray the image of having a project for the future. Their language is replete with concepts such as the famous “road-map“. The Labour party relies heavily on the sale of dreams – a future that is not only unquantifiable but also one that cannot be assessed. The selling of a dream involves simply being careful enough not to step on anyone’s dislikes. It is a combination of band-wagon politics and fence-sitting. The final key to this strategy is the reliance on the electorate’s general disgruntlement with the current band and their apparent inertia. In order to promise everything to everyone Joseph Muscat simply has to sit back and promise nothing. At least not tangibly.

The moment there is the danger of being associated with a fixed idea Muscat will shy away into the clouds of non-commitment or denial. He will return with words about road-maps and consultation. It’s less of a case of leadership with direction and more of a case of blind man’s bluff. The excuse of not being in election campaign is wearing thin. Especially when Muscat’s party has long delivered the judgement that (a) PN is no longer fit to govern and (b) Labour is.

Nationalist futures are worse than bleak at the moment. With a 12 point gap in the polls and a seeming inability to take control of the pre-electoral agenda setting it will take a miracle to get back into a fighting chance at this stage. Much will depend on the PN machine’s ability to bring Labour down to discussing the real and now. If the language of politics is shifted into the present temporal dimension – ignoring the histrionics of back-benchers on the way out and the media circus – then the tired party of government might (might) be back with a fighting chance. This will require stronger displays of clarity of vision, brutally honest introspectives that reflect upon past mistakes and a strong sense of determination that would finally eradicate the deep-seated doubt that has entrenched itself in the popular mindset.

The intangible politics of the future might only be eclipsed with a presentation of the very tangible politics of the present. It’ll be a hard trek but given the alternative scenarios and possibilities it is not only worth a try… it is their duty to do so.

Categories
Campaign 2013

The politics of denial

Something’s going all Pete Tong in the Nationalist party pre-electoral strategy. Either that or the  powers of self-persuasion among some people must be unnaturally high. If a week is a long time in politics then surviving the minefield of a combined JPO & Franco Debono assault on the stability of a slender parliamentary majority for almost a year is quite a feat. For a long time we had to make do with the histrionics of a party in government attempting to horse-trade its way to the end of the last parliamentary session. The nationalist government alternated from a policy of accommodation to hard-bargaining with the volatile requests of the rebel MPs.

By the time Parliament went into recess we had an obvious situation of Cohabitation Government with Pullicino Orlando and an undefinable shape-shifting relationship with Franco. So long as parliament had been in session Franco Debono’s clout with the PN was simply stated as that extra vote needed to guarantee a governing stability. With the recess came the PN’s definite confirmation that Franco Debono would not be standing for another election in its name (and that instead the electorate would be regaled with the unenviable choice of such party stalwarts as Emmanuel Arriva Delia).

Parliament is still in recess. Franco Debono is not. One of his latest posts is dedicated to pointing out that while school is starting parliament is still “on a break”. A laborious read through Franco’s blog will also lead anyone with a brain between his ears to one conclusion: this man has undoubtedly chosen to break ranks from the party (or rather realised that there is no place for him therein). Bridges are being burnt with every misspelt word that appears on his blog. There will be no more horse-trading. No more appeasement. No more winning of valuable time. The time for Franco to be consigned to the footnotes of history is fast approaching (see the J’accuse “When Franco is history“).

Which brings me to the questionable strategy mentioned at the start. For a long time it seemed obvious that the only use that Gonzi’s PN had left for Franco was as the final trigger before the election. It was evident that the PN government’s last move would be to force Franco to be the catalyst for the end of this legislature and the beginning of the next. So far so good and Machiavellian. The rebel MP seemed to be slow on the uptake at first but has now sussed up to this plan and seems determined not to fall into the trap of becoming the ultimate scapegoat.

Which makes all the songs and dances emanating from Pietà rather incongruous. On the one hand there is the general theme of “all is fine and dandy and it would be even better had we not had the minor inconvenience of Franco Debono” and on the other there is the “we will remain in government so long as we enjoy the confidence of parliament”. Now it was one thing before summer to allow public opinion to dither as to whether or not the latest confidence vote would be clinched by “convincing” unsettled backbenchers. We could dismiss the horse-trading to nervous shifts within the power structures of an ageing government. It is another thing though for Lawrence Gonzi to speak to the assembled faithful in Floriana and act as though Franco Debono’s blog is just a bad dream.

What do you mean so long as we enjoy the confidence of parliament Lawrence? Surely it is also clear to you, following this summer’s shifts in the rules of the game, that any kind of confidence you might believe you enjoy is entirely superficial? As David Guetta’s music played and the new breed of nationalist (what nationalist exactly) candidates marched onto the stage (Without You!) sans Franco we were entitled to ask: for how long more this charade of denial?

Yes denial. Because no matter what the PN strategists might try to sell you now, the setting of an election is a decision that is fast slipping from their hands. We were prepared to tip our hat to a strategic victory that meant winning valuable time over the summer months for a regathering of the forces and (re)drafting of a final electoral strategy. The delay strategy might backfire though if extended to an illogical period beyond the convincingly realistic. For Lawrence Gonzi to resume the “government as usual” spiel in September while the evidence all around him points to anything but that might be a hard act to convince even the most blinkered of nationalist flag-wavers.

Financial estimates, votes of confidence… Gonzi’s PN is lucky if it gets to the finish line and the cutting of the ribbon at the new parliament complex. There’s that and the amount of time being wasted focusing on the almost has-been rebels when much could be done at the moment exposing the faux politics upon which Labour and its Potyemkin Congress has embarked.

The botched strategy at the moment points to a possibly bigger fault line within the party itself that goes farther than Franco Debono and the tantrums of the discontent. One could hypothesise that various strands within the Pieta party have already smelt the scent of an inevitable loss at the polls and most efforts are being channelled into the post-electoral battles that will define the new post-Gonzi PN. That would explain the new alliances and alignments when it comes to candidates and districts and it would explain why little or nothing seems to be done in terms of real election campaign tactics.

Above all – and now more than ever – it seems that together it is no longer possible.

Categories
Campaign 2013 Politics

From Sarkozy to Saatchi & Saatchi

It’s out. The Nationalist party has “launched” a new billboard – complete with press release and comments by the party President. The PN is really trying its darned best to water down the importance of a press release and a press conference. First we had PBO calling not one but two press conferences and now Marthese Portelli, Tonio Fenech and Chris Said were wheeled out in order to explain… a billboard. You know that your billboard campaign has started on the wrong foot when you need to explain or, worse still, justify the content.

While the 2008 campaign was wrought with messages of “taste” and “guilt by association”, the PN in 2012 is resolute in reminding us how much of Labour’s current lineup has its roots way back when the Commodore 64 was launched (note the nerdy reference here). One thing has not changed – the absence of original thought in the creative department. In 2008 we had the plagiarised Sarkozy slogan “ensemble tout est possible” and for 2012 the PN has kicked off with a plagiarised poster from the UK Conservative party campaign back in 1979.

Do note how Marthese Portelli takes care not to mention the Conservative party in her “explanation”. The emphasis in some quarters is on “Saatchi & Saatchi” – you know, the Versace of political campaigns. Like that should make the whole plagiarising business disappear instantly. I wonder whether Saatchi & Saatchi could claim any royalties for this “cut and paste” job – which might go some way into explaining PBO’s estimates for billboard costs.

The original poster did say “Labour isn’t working” (changed to “Labour won’t work” for obvious reasoning) but it also had a little addendum: “Britain’s better off with the conservatives”. Now that’s vanished of course – and I am quite sure the PR department is smart enough not to deviate the attention of the voter with the assertion “Malta’s better off with the nationalists”. Because that is essentially the part of the formula the PN cannot afford to gamble on. The campaign HAS to focus on Labour’s perceived inadequacy to govern (and Labour goes quite a long way in reinforcing that perception) but it also HAS to shift the focus away from the current state of the nationalist party.

So. Are we better off with the conservatives? What is the PN doing to allay fears that their conservative elements will not dominate a future legislature? Well. Right now we have the rush to change laws on expression, the IVF bill with all its controversies and a number of other minor laws crying for attention (still slapping nudists with criminal fines are we?).

In the end this is not a game changer but it is a clear indication that the nationalist party will definitely find it tough going if it were to act as though all were fine and dandy. And it will take much more than an article by a human rights lawyer to convince the intelligent voter that the PN vote is the vote for change.