Consultants help governments define inspiring economic strategies which can hardly be faulted for their lack of vision. Glossy reports, PowerPoint presentations, media events and consultation with business lobbies and social partners are all elements of the rituals that political leaders engage in to convince the electorate that they have what it takes to make their lives better.
Prime Minister Robert Abela recently announced his five pillars of economic policy that encapsulate his vision for the country for the next decade and beyond.
Sustainable economic growth, good governance, education, infrastructural improvement and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 are the goals that, under this vision, Malta should be pursuing as we enter the third decade of the 21st century.
Rather than pillars of economic policy, the narrative of the prime minister is more about defining a ‘new strategy’ that will see the government making a clear set of choices that describe what the country is going to do and what it is not going to do. Many economic strategies fail to get implemented because they do not represent a set of clear choices.
Abela’s commitment on taking office was all about ‘continuity’. The five pillars confirm that, in fact, we are bound to see more of the same economic strategies that have promoted economic growth in the last seven years – but which have done so at a high cost.
Sustainable economic growth can never be achieved by promoting high-risk economic activities that attract immediate investment because of tax incentives, a laissez-faire attitude in the implementation of anti-financial crime regulation and focus on volume growth rather than quality investment. Admittedly, the hype about promoting Malta as a cryptocurrency centre and an electronic gambling paradise has been dialled down. But little has so far been said about what new sustainable activities will be enabled.
Even in tourism, policymakers continue to focus on flooding the island with low-spending visitors with little effort to upgrade the Malta experience for potential higher-spenders.
Meanwhile, Malta continues to be a laggard in the EU league for educational achievement. Sustainable growth can never be achieved by just importing large numbers of both highly-skilled and low-skilled workers while many of our youngsters leave school with no qualifications.
Infrastructural improvement is more than just building new roads. It is about preserving the rural and urban environment from speculative exploitation.
And the carbon-neutrality target for 2050 seems to fall under the government’s radar as there is little evidence of how it will be implemented.
Abela’s policy on good governance is another red herring. Some of those who have been behind the dramatic fall in Malta’s reputation still sit on the government’s benches.
Despite his self-professed commitment to taking tough decisions, Abela has so far shown little inclination to clean up his parliamentary group. Some changes, like the replacement of the police commissioner and the attorney general, were indeed welcome.
But political heavyweights like former prime minister Joseph Muscat continue to enjoy the trust of the present prime minister, creating a drag on real progress.
Abela also needs to question the relationship between Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis and murder suspect Yorgen Fenech, among others.
He needs to cross the Rubicon if he wants to be believed that he is indeed committed to leaving the corrupt governance of the last few years behind him.
Rather than a leadership vision, the prime minister is promoting a mirage.