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6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 25 NOVEMBER 2020 NEWS Eight things the reshuffle says about With the exception of COVID-19 casualty Silvio Parnis, Robert Abela did not want to dump anyone As widely expected, Abela ditched Silvio Parnis as junior minister for the elderly, whose reaction to a spike in COVID-19s death was a wrapped ro- ly-poly gift telling the elderly to "have courage". While Abela played musical chairs by shifting a number of respon- sibilities and creating completely new ministries, he retained everyone else in his original Cabinet, in a decision probably motivated by resentment at constituency level which could rebound on Labour's electoral numbers. This suggests that Abela intends to go to the next election with this Cabinet in place. Yet the dismissal of Parnis, a district heavyweight and veteran in his own right, still sends a strong message that gross incompetence will not be tolerat- ed. Buying the peace of the rest of the Cabinet comes at a price: an absurdly large Cabinet and too few backbenchers to hold government in to account. Justyne Caruana's reinstatement and the retention of Edward Zammit Lewis and Rosianne Cutajar suggests Abela has lowered the ethical bar he applied so mercilessly when Caruana was removed in January Just days after his appointment as PM and still on his political honeymoon, a time when he was keen on distancing himself from the impunity character- ising the Muscat administration, Abela was quick to dismiss Justyne Caruana from Gozo Minister – not because of any fault of her own – over her hus- band's (formerly a high ranking police officer involved in the Caruana Galizia murder probe) close relationship to Yorgen Fenech. Caruana's reinstatement, which could also reflect a change in her personal situation, indicates that Abela is now more flexible in the application of his ethical yardstick. The retention of Ed- ward Zammit Lewis and Rosianne Cutajar in their respective justice and equality portfolios, despite having al- legedly retained personal relations with Yorgen Fenech after it emerged that the Tumas magnate was also the owner of 17 Black, is hard to interpret because the WhatsApp chats spurring these ru- mours have not been made public yet. This may be an indication that Abela has been satisfied by the explanation given to him by the two MPs and has concluded that the cost of removing them would be greater than that of re- taining them. It is unclear whether Abela has pre-empted problems by demanding full disclosure from those involved or whether he is still waiting for the shit to hit the fan. Their retention has surely strengthened the case for the reinstate- ment of Justyne Cutajar, considering that the latter was not even personally connected to Yorgen Fenech when she was removed. The downside for Abela, whose credibility has been greatly en- hanced by raising the ethical bar princi- pally by kicking Konrad Mizzi out of the parliamentary group, is that his latest decisions may be perceived as a back- tracking from his stricter approach. Yet it is also possible that such an ap- proach was not sustainable in the long run, in a political landscape where even the Opposition's chief inquisitor Ja- son Azzopardi has been rebuked by his own party for taking a gift from Tumas Group, albeit one occurring before the 17 Black revelations. Gozo remains electorally strategic: three Gozitan MPs are now ministers Gozo is Malta's only toss-up district. With the latest polls showing the PN led by Bernard Grech making notable gains, Abela may have been keener on reinstating Caruana who commands strong constituency support in Gozo. Neither can Abela afford to lose sup- port in Gozo with its district rivalries and the resentment of MPs like Caru- ana. She now joins Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri, who is also responsible for hunting, and Agriculture Minister An- ton Refalo in the strongest ever Gozitan contingent in a Maltese government. Caruana's conciliatory temperament is also suited for her new role as education minister, a portfolio which gives her visibility, exposure and plenty of deliv- erables. It remains to be seen whether she also has the depth to address struc- tural inequalities in a system which has traditionally reinforced class divisions. Robert Abela still has a pool of talent, which allowed him to shift responsi- bilities Abela is reaping the fruits of the gen- erational renewal on Labour's benches during the past decade, finding plenty of space to manoeuvre in shifting re- sponsibilities in his Cabinet. While the government is showing the first signs of fatigue made more visible by the failure of some ministers to rise up to the COV- ID-19 challenge, Abela is trying to nip problems in the bud by shifting respon- sibilities and giving embattled ministers a second chance to prove themselves in greener pastures. Strong social aspect: Disability and the elderly have their own ministries along with social housing Following the appointment of Rod- erick Galdes as housing minister in January, Abela has now elevated inclu- sion and disability (included in Julia Farrugia's quality of life portfolio) and the elderly (now the main focus of Mi- chael Farrugia's ministry) to ministerial status. This is a strong indication that Abela is giving more importance to the social sector than Muscat. Yet Abela missed a golden opportunity to elevate equality to a separate ministry, thus en- A much-anticipated Cabinet reshuff le left only one casualty, with the PM shifting responsibilities and creating a new nomenclature with new portfolios to fit those filling them. What was on Robert Abela's mind when making these changes? asks James Debono Miriam Dalli taking her oath as Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Sustainable Development, weeks after renouncing her seat in the European Parliament