It was a baptism of fire for Robert Abela as he surprisingly took over the reins from Joseph Muscat a year ago. Christopher Scicluna analyses the highs and the lows of the new prime minister. 

It was a triumph few could have predicted. Robert Abela had only served as an MP since 2017 and had held no public office. In the party leadership contest, he was up against respected party veteran and popular Health Minister Chris Fearne.

On January 11, Abela won the party contest and two days later took over from Joseph Muscat, who was riding high in popularity despite having sunk his government deep in the mire of bad governance.

“Continuity” was the key word trumpeted by the Labour Party and Abela himself as they sought, and achieved, a seamless transition, something which had eluded the Nationalist Party in its leadership election a few months previously.

But Abela was in a bind. He knew he needed to keep his predecessor on side, because that was where a lot of his support came from, and yet he needed to distance his administration from the old one, simply to get out of the corruption and controversy surrounding Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder which had dragged Muscat down.

A year on, the jury on Abela is still out, his first 12 months having been dominated by a pandemic which largely dictated his government’s actions.

Still, Abela can be satisfied that he has retained poll ratings that would be the envy of any head of a democratic government, while ushering in significant legislative reforms aimed at placating international calls for change.

He negotiated what he described as the biggest financial agreement with the European Union, just months after Muscat had been described as a pariah in the bloc.

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, Abela has struggled to push forward his own agenda

And despite the virus having halted economic growth and turned a surplus into a massive deficit, he achieved job numbers growth and managed to keep many struggling businesses going, thanks to wage subsidies and voucher schemes to keep consumption up.

Popular and populist decisions

The last year has also seen a prime minister behind both popular and populist decisions, though he was forced to make tough calls.

His decision to leave former minister Konrad Mizzi and Chris Cardona out of his cabinet was welcomed by both sides of the political spectrum. He also engineered the replacement of police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar, although the former police boss was handed an alternative job within the government only to remove him once again when serious allegations emerged about him.

Under pressure from the Venice Commission, Abela changed the method of appointment of the judiciary and achieved consensus on the appointment of the new chief justice. On June 18, the commission said it positively viewed reforms of judicial appointments, oversight of the judiciary, the office of the attorney general and the shifting of various powers out of the prime minister’s hands.

Meanwhile, under pressure from another international body – Moneyval – Abela also started to shore up money laundering mechanism amid the threat that Malta could be greylisted.

Though the Moneyval verdict has not yet been issued, the government has been praised for carrying out reforms in this area, though many believe it is doing so out of convenience not conviction.

Politically, Abela appeared to have made a smart move in convincing MEP Miriam Dalli – a potential leadership rival – and his former chief of staff Clyde Caruana to join his cabinet, making their appointments possible through co-option. 

He also took some deeply populist decisions clearly aimed at maintaining his already strong base, including the controversial decision to hand over vast tracts of woodland to the hunters’ federation and maintaining a tough line on migration, controversially keeping hundreds of migrants on offshore on boats for weeks while their distribution with other EU countries was negotiated.

And then the focus shifted almost entirely to the pandemic and Abela was forced to tread a fine line between the economy and health. 

He was criticised for bowing too early to pressure from the industry to ease up on COVID-19 restrictions early in summer, notably in the organisation of parties, possibly the biggest single mistake.

He also decided to waive fines related to COVID-19 measures, giving the wrong impression that punitive measures were there to be twisted.

While understandably seeking to project optimism amid the sea of COVID-related problems, Abela undermined his own credibility when he appeared to dismiss talk of a ‘second wave’ during the summer and even holidayed on his boat in Sicily as virus cases started rising in Malta. More recently, he appeared insensitive towards the plight of COVID-19 victims when he avoided mentioning them during his New Year address.

Tough choices

Some tough choices had to be made over the past months with Abela repeatedly saying his decision not to order a total lockdown as well as his government’s insistence to reopen schools in October had helped to stop massive disruptions and save the economy.

But another politically-tough decision beckons on the horizon. Will he sack parliamentary secretary Rosianne Cutajar, one of his strongest supporters, after she acted as property negotiator for murder suspect Yorgen Fenech and appeared not to have declared a commission payment of some €46,000? 

Abela perplexed many with his objections to extend the time frame for the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder inquiry and for failing to set up an inquiry into the death of Miriam Pace when her house collapsed during construction work on an adjoining plot. He also dismissed opposition calls for an inquiry into the way the Electrogas power station contract was awarded, possibly the most serious breach of public trust by the Muscat government.

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, Abela has struggled to push forward his own agenda. However, he is managing to push, without resistance, a move to cut the waiting time for divorce from four years to a year when the divorce is contested, and just six months when it is ‘amicable’.

He has also made no apparent headway over Steward Healthcare, despite what in March was described as “a full stocktake” for alleged breach of contract conditions going back to the original Vitals management of government hospitals.

Abela possesses little of the charm and gift of the gab of his predecessor and he still has to come out of Muscat’s shadow. But given the strong support base Muscat bequeathed him, does he want to?

What do they think?

Steve Mallia.

Crisis handling vs intolerance to criticism

Steve Mallia, former editor-in-chief at Times of Malta

Robert Abela endured the baptism of all fires: taking the helm on an economic wave only to slam straight into the COVID-19 tsunami. Given there is no magic formula, he has handled this crisis pretty well, particularly the thorny ‘health risk vs economy’ dilemma – save for a few misplaced remarks.

In parallel, he has made tangible progress on good governance and seems increasingly keen to distance himself from the ghost of Joseph Muscat.

However, while Abela has a refreshing ‘ordinariness’ about him, he has at times displayed intolerance to criticism, fragility even, and partisanship that does not sit well with being Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, the shadow of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s shameful assassination – and crimes associated with it – continues to loom large and the question of whether he is doing his utmost to ensure all those involved are brought to justice begs a swift answer. History will judge him on this.

Claire Bonello.

Decision on migrants, land grabbing were low points

Claire Bonello, Lawyer and environmentalist

Robert Abela’s first year in office has to be viewed in context with how he came to power. He occupies the position of a predecessor who could do no wrong with the Labour grassroots and (on a purely superficial level) presided over the best of times, l-aqwa żmien. In reality that was a laissez-faire regime, devoid of any modicum of good governance which made Malta a money-launderers’ magnet, a corruption sinkhole and an environmental mess.

Abela had all this to contend with, together with the unprecedented pandemic situation. His first steps were promising, he put a stop to the spiteful pettiness of the dismantling of the Daphne Caruana Galizia memorial, he ousted Konrad Mizzi from the party and made some hopeful ministerial appointments. The initial handling of the COVID-19 pandemic was also good. However, this steadying mode of governance dissipated towards summer, when the hotel lobby seems to have pressurised the prime minister to a premature opening of borders that brought a spike in infections along with it.

Another unsuccessful point was the decision to leave migrants at sea along with the land grab of Miżieb and L-Aħrax. The callousness and unsustainability of the construction industry has not been addresses leaving victims such as Miriam Pace and her family in distress. Good governance is a mirage as conflicts of interest, direct orders and profligate payments to the same coterie of consultants abound. A return to the initial measured style of governance is warranted.

Dominic Fenech.

Significant improvement on good governance, but role in COVID-19 ambiguous

Dominic Fenech, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Head of the Department of History at University of Malta

Notwithstanding the turbulent background to his taking office, Robert Abela did so under propitious conditions. With the accent of government critics on Muscat’s person, combined with the disarray of the PN opposition, it meant he could work at his own pace and in his own space. Having had no hand in public appointments, he had no qualms about securing the resignation of a number of controversial officers and figures, further denying his critics firepower.

Abela was able, without loss of face, to begin addressing pressing demands from such quarters as the Venice Commission and Moneyval. A year after his assumption of the premiership he seems to have made significant headway on this count.

Abela’s role within the context of COVID-19 was ambiguous, since the protagonist here was more the health minister. Abela’s stance was light hearted, in comparison to that of Chris Fearne, which sometimes created a good-cop/bad-cop impression. Of course, as prime minister he was also concerned with rescuing the economy, in which aim he was aided by the financial legacy of his predecessor.

On the whole and when compared to other countries a reasonable balance was struck between the public health and the economic imperatives. 

Abigail Mamo.

Slow to close Malta’s dark chapter

Abigail Mamo, Malta Chamber of SMEs CEO

Robert Abela’s first year in office was certainly more turbulent than anyone ever expected. Amid a health emergency crisis, it was one of the worst in Malta’s history in terms of economic performance. There was also the grave reputational damage resulting from the many more political scandals that continued to emerge and unfold. 

 Looking back with hindsight everyone would have done many things differently. I, for one, disagreed with decisions on numerous occasions; 2020 offered an opportunity for one of the biggest learning curves. But looking at how Malta fared over the year and comparing it to many other countries, Malta has so far survived this impossible year well and that is a big achievement. 

 On the political front we all feel very angered and ashamed by the scandals that have tarnished us all indirectly. I had a personal expectation that this dark chapter in Malta’s political history could be closed much quicker. There is a feeling that justice has not yet been served and that some aspects remain hidden. Politics and justice, many times, don’t work in tandem with our expectations.