When a technocrat is roped in to serve in a political role, one would expect an upgrade in political communication. Open, honest and direct speech is what many citizens expect but rarely get from traditional politicians. They prefer to excel as smooth talkers who specialise in insincerity, glibness and cynical manipulation.
Clyde Caruana, an economist by profession, was catapulted into one of the most senior government roles when he was co-opted to parliament and appointed finance minister. He had the big political advantage of not having had any significant political baggage. In an interview with The Sunday Times of Malta, he used a rare political communication style that one usually associates with straight talkers.
He addressed issues ranging from the latest Air Malta restructuring plan to the controversial golden passports scheme and from the deteriorating public finances to the lack of tax compliance enforcement on business entities.
Caruana can ride on his reputation as a no-nonsense technocrat temporarily loaned to politics. But this reputation will only last as long as he consistently walks the talk and never resorts to smooth-talking when political expediency demands.
When he was asked about Air Malta, Caruana rightly identified political interference as one of the major causes behind the national airline’s turbulent restructuring. Yet, he sounded too optimistic when, like a few ministers responsible for the airline in recent years, he claimed to have the solution to Air Malta’s survival.
Caruana can ride on his reputation as a no-nonsense technocrat temporarily loaned to politics. But this reputation will only last as long as he consistently walks the talk
The company’s top brass arguably lacks economics experience from the airline industry that will be crucially important for Air Malta to carve our sufficient market share to ensure its survival. Successful business reengineering of a small airline competing in a very combative market takes much more than the tactics of cost-cutting.
Caruana also danced around one of the most critical challenges faced by the government – the failed privatisation of three public hospitals by the Muscat administration. Ordinary people need to be told how the government intends to resolve this problem pragmatically rather than await the outcome of legal disputes that may take years to resolve.
The return to fiscal rectitude is a daunting task for all EU governments following the massive use of public funds to mitigate the effects of the pandemic.
Caruana was lucky to inherit a public finance scoreboard with relatively healthy key performance indicators. This, of course, has come at a high cost, including the selling of EU citizenship and its reputational fallout, various cases of abuse of public funds and state capture by a few powerful business interests.
The finance minister may be underestimating the pain the country may need to endure to put public finances back on a sustainable basis. His commitment not to increase taxes to hit his target of adherence to the Maastricht criteria by 2024 has more to do with smooth than straight political talk.
Caruana’s clear statements on the consequences that tax defaulters should face may have made him unpopular with some of his colleagues who believe that stating the obvious on civil duties is not advisable on the eve of an election. Still, the enforcement of tax compliance falls under the authority of the finance minister.
He will be judged – at least by a good part of the electorate – on how successful he is at eradicating the current laissez-faire mindset of some businesses and tax officials when it comes to complying with taxation rules.
A lot of citizens will be hoping that realpolitik will not transform the finance minister from a straight to a smooth talker.