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2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matthew Vella MANAGING EDITOR Saviour Balzan Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 JUNE 2020 The bar has been raised, but not high enough Editorial PRIME Minister Robert Abela has argued that – by sacking Konrad Mizzi last Tuesday – the Labour Party 'had set the highest standards of governance, and of good ethical behaviour on a political level'. It was not an empty boast. Mizzi's dismissal does indeed raise a bar when it comes to the standards expected of politicians holding high political office – one that had been lowered considerably by his predecessor. Nonetheless, Robert Abela cannot rest on his laurels, as the ramifications of the scandals that precede his premiership may yet return to haunt his administration in the near future. Already, Malta faces the risk of being grey-listed by Moneyval, the Council of Europe's financial crime watchdog: a prospect that would be disastrous for the Maltese economy. This alone attests to the amount of work that still has to be done. Abela's first priority must be to take the necessary steps to bolster the Police Force's ef- fort in bringing more prosecutions to the courts: especially by adopting the approach previously em- ployed by other EU member states, whereby Ameri- can and English investigators, experienced in inves- tigating money laundering cases, were brought in to do the heavy lifting for the national police force. Secondly, Malta has to bolster the executive arm of the FIAU and the MFSA: now clearly heading to- wards a situation where the FIAU will also become its own dedicated financial crimes agency, while the MFSA could become a supervisor on money laun- dering. This will, once again, go a long way towards allowing financial crimes experts to deal with this serious problem of ours, rather than hamper the police force with investigations they have so far not managed to deal with effectively. But Abela must also reckon with the shortcomings of the Muscat administration. Without a proper in- vestigation of the Panama Papers and the 17 Black connection, there can be no lasting progress on the reforms needed to meet the Venice Commission's criteria. The political ramifications of the Panama scan- dal were certainly large, and indeed have left a bad taste in people's mouths on both sides of the divide: partly because it did not see justice being done in the case of politicians who were planning sinister fi- nancial deals; but also because they were perceived as the Opposition's attempts at short-circuiting de- mocracy through the Egrant affair. Now that Abela is embarking on the Venice Com- mission reforms, he may still face trouble if any of his political allies are caught up in situations which also demand a tough, no-nonsense response. And he may face an even greater problem, if his prede- cessor Joseph Muscat ends up in the same position as Konrad Mizzi. It can only be expected that Abela and Labour will do their utmost to shield Muscat from any allega- tions or scandals that may yet arise. The political cost of disowning a beloved former prime minister – albeit disgraced by the countless deals that have attracted controversy under his aegis, and the im- plication of his chief of staff in the Yorgen Fenech arrest – may prove too high for Abela. The same problems also beset Malta's opposition party, which shows no signs of healing from the lin- gering wounds of the 2017 leadership election. The PN's traditional ideological space has been taken up, lock, stock and barrel, by a still buoyant Labour government, which has so far performed well even during a pandemic. Moreover, Adrian Delia is now the subject of a magisterial inquiry into allegations of extorting money from Yorgen Fenech, to prevent the election of David Casa. How the PN can expect to face an election, with its leader clearly in no position to demand high stand- ards on good governance, beggars belief. Ultimately, Delia's masochistic desire to hang on to the reins of the PN only paints a sad picture of Maltese politics. But the PN will have yet more to do if a new leader steps forward to take over from Delia: it will not be able to win against Labour simply on the grounds of good governance. It will require a deeper ideo- logical turnaround, that cannot be fulfilled with its usual reliance on the tropes of conservatism and na- tional populism. Unless the PN offers a radical vision of Malta, un- der the enlightened leadership of a fresh face, it can only expect suffer yet more defeat. This, too, is why the ethical standards bar still needs to be raised higher. 27 June 2010 Harsh reactions to 'expensive car' jibe MEPA Chairman Austin Walker's comment comparing himself to an expensive car to jus- tify his €93,000 annual salary led to a strong reaction. Asked by journalist Vanessa Macdonald dur- ing a one-hour interview on Tuesday morning whether he "deserved €93,000 a year", Walk- er did not mince his words. "It all depends," Walker said. "If you decide to buy an expensive car, then you have to pay for it," he insisted. This was the Walker's curt reply given to Macdonald – Walker reportedly being the third highest paid public servant in Malta, who handles one of the most contentious of government regulators: the environment and planning authority. One reader called on Walker to give more value for money rather than being an "expen- sive car". "Is this 'expensive' car giving the expect- ed mileage or should one just go abroad and get more value from an imported model?" he asked. He also asked whether the time was right for driving an expensive car "especially in a coun- try where the roads – or the country's finances are full of potholes". "Something is just not right!" he concluded. Another maltatoday.com.mt, reader, M Falzon, also harped on the issue of whether Malta afforded such large salaries in view of the country's financial and economic situation. "In such dire straits, does a country afford an expensive car?" he asked. "Or you select a morg effective and efficient one?" Falzon added. Another www.maltatoday.com.mt read- er, George Debono, in telegraphic comment asked whether Walker's appointment was "a case of much, much more money than sense." R.L. Dowling suggested that if MEPA was go- ing to buy an 'expensive car' we should expect "performance that justifies its pricing". "I agree that we need to be careful and not waste useful resources on flashy things," he added. "So Walker, you should better start jog- ging," he insisted. Finally, Danny Attard suggested that Malta was "the only country where BS not only takes you to the top, but keeps you there too." In his blog published last Thursday, Saviour Balzan insisted that Walker was "not just ex- pensive, but shameless too." ... Quote of the Week "Don't blame the victim. What is important is that once you discover things, you take action, report and investigate the case." Finance Minister Edward Scicluna reacts to the Montenegro wind energy scandal MaltaToday 10 years ago