Local councils fall under the principle of subsidiarity, which the European Parliament defines in this way: “The general aim of the principle of subsidiarity is to guarantee a degree of independence for a lower authority in relation to a higher body or for a local authority in relation to central government.”
This means that power must not lie exclusively in the hands of a central government but it should be passed on to the local councils. In this context, the role of the government is to share power with and provide support to these entities.
The idea behind this is to bring governance closer to the people by delegating power and providing the necessary infrastructural and financial means to autonomous, fairly-elected bodies that would be better placed to know and cater for the needs of the particular communities within their locality.
This necessity becomes even more vital as communities in our islands become more and more multicultural; consequently, needs are far more varied and widespread. Identifying needs and negotiating solutions for the various cultures now making up our local populations contributes to better social integration and harmony within the local community and the country at large.
Initially, when they were introduced in 1993, local councils were boycotted by the Labour Party while the PN and AD presented candidates from the very first day. As time went by, national party politics took over and, all too often, local issues that should fall within the council’s remit are taken out of its hands.
As a result, we have Labour and Nationalist local councils, the majority of which give priority to the interests and instructions of their party, rather than the needs and quality of life of their communities.
The mayors or councillors who have had the guts to stand up to their party and defend their communities, rather than party interests or those of their political cronies – particularly construction moguls – can be counted practically on the fingers of one hand.
They are to be admired for the determined stance they have taken, especially with regard to urban developmental abuse and dismantling of the environment. Their position is all the more courageous when what we have been witnessing in the past 10 years is a constant and consistent erosion of local councils’ autonomy.
According to the Local Councils Act, anyone from an EU member state has the right to vote for local councils.
It follows logically that, since any EU national can vote, they also have the right to present themselves for local council elections.
This is not the case for those third country nationals who have been in our country for a long time and are integrated in the community. Not only are they, all too often, ghettoised but they are denied any say with regard to how things are to be conducted in the local community they are part of.
The mayors or councillors who have had the guts to stand up to their party can be counted on the fingers of one hand- Vicki Ann Cremona
The recent proposal issued by Alison Zerafa Civelli, Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government, entitled ‘National Strategic Vision of Local Government’, takes as its starting point that “local councils are an extension of government in the community”. This sentence alone throws the whole concept of subsidiarity to the dogs.
It was revealing to see in the very title, the use of the word “of” (tal-) rather than “for” (għall-) local government because, once again, it clearly shows the spirit of the document: the central authority imposing a top-down vision, rather than trying to build one from the grassroots up.
It was also revealing to note that the document is not translated into English; consequently, it is not accessible to persons who cannot read Maltese, even if they are legally entitled to have their say in local councils and their administration.
Repubblika has examined this document and published detailed comments about its contents. Anyone reading this ‘vision’ will note that nowhere is there any mention of increasing the autonomous power of local councils, or even of regional councils, and removing it from ministers’ claws. It may be surmised that ministers are afraid of losing votes and, in certain cases, undermining their financial interests, if they do not continue to hold tight to every shred of power they can grab.
Centralisation, therefore, remains the order of the day. Nowhere are the local councils given back the right, currently lost, of ensuring public order in their locality, administering public land, promoting local economic development, planning and administering local services, such as health, road building, etc., having a say in urban development or rural protection of their local jurisdiction.
In its response to this document, Repubblika demands less governmental interference, more local decisional autonomy, more financial means and fiscal decision-taking and no centralised interference as to whom to employ in local councils. The current practice of local councillors electing regional representatives establishes distance between the latter and the local communities, so elections should also be organised for regional councils.
Of course, in any reform, nothing comes free and a national debate about local taxes to maintain the autonomy of local councils should be organised. The only strategy in this ‘vision’ seems to be how to grab more power at the expense of local community management.
Anyone interested in reading Repubblika’s comments on the government’s proposal for a ‘Strategic Vision of Local Councils’ may follow this link: https://shorturl.at/rABZ8.
Vicki Ann Cremona is a member of Repubblika.