Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1319911
9 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 16 DECEMBER 2020 NEWS triggered a snap election in 2017? and Caruana Galizia to prevent an early election with the PN still in difficulty; or by way of snap election making it hard to elicit more solid revelations on the 17 Black connection. Muscat may have preferred an election fight on the un- substantiated Egrant than the problematic 17 Black. Ironical- ly it was Caruana Galizia who provided Muscat with the trig- ger to call the snap election, which he had already planned. 4. The election decision coin- cided with Caruana Galizia's first reference to 17 Black Caruana Galizia first referred to 17 Black in February 2017. The cryptic post linked 17 Black to Joseph Muscat, his chief of staff Keith Schembri, tourism minister Konrad Mizzi and former EU commission- er John Dalli. The revelation was surely noticed by Yorgen Fenech, who in March changed 17 Black's name to Wings De- velopment Ltd. Significantly in a comment left underneath the post in reply to a deleted com- ment Caruana Galizia referred to "a couple of the owners of their magic new corruption power station: and it's Yorgen Fenech. So thanks for this, be- cause it really figures." Back then the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) already had a Panama Papers e-mail in its possession showing how Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi planned to receive $2 million in a single year from 17 Black and another com- pany of unknown ownership called Macbridge. The timing suggests that the election was planned under the dark shad- ow cast by 17 Black. Yet, hav- ing survived Panamagate, did Muscat have reason to fear further revelations linked to the secret offshore companies owned by his chief of staff and Konrad Mizzi? This also raises a crucial question: did Muscat even know about his chief of staff's link to Fenech's 17 Black back in February 2017? If yes, he may have had reason to fear Daphne's cryptic post. Muscat had denied knowing anything about the company back then. Still, judging from hindsight further revelations linking Fenech to 17 Black in Novem- ber 2018 did not in any way diminish Muscat's popularity to the extent that he won MEP elections in 2019 with a land- slide. 5. The snap election coincid- ed with Malta's presidency of the EU Muscat was riding high on Malta's EU presidency, basking in the international limelight and the praise showered on Malta's preparedness by then EU Commission President Jean Claude Juncker in Janu- ary. Juncker had also disap- pointed the opposition by ab- staining from any reference to Panamagate during his visit to Malta. Yet, deliberately holding an election right in the middle of the EU Presidency, was not exactly orthodox. As Politico noted in December 2017 "call- ing a snap election only months after the presidency had begun didn't go down well in Brus- sels". The only other EU coun- try to have an election during its presidency was Poland when Donald Tusk was prime minis- ter — but even then, it was re- quired by the Constitution, not the whim of its ruling party. Yet thanks to Egrant, Muscat could justify calling the elec- tion while still winning praise for what Politico had described as "his government's diplomat- ic prowess". 6. The choice of an election date coincided with a show- down between Simon Busuttil and the DB group and a favour- able polling moment for La- bour and Muscat Keith Schembri suggests that the decision to call a snap election was informed by La- bour's polling lead. Muscat could have simply been seizing a favourable polling moment to guarantee a victory of the same magnitude of 2013. For while Labour's re-election in the forthcoming was never in question, Panamagate had left a dent and raised the prospect of the PN narrowing the gap. But by March 2017 the PN had lost steam and was on the re- ceiving end of fallout from a showdown with the DB Group who in reaction to Busuttil's stance against the transfer of the ITS land in Pembroke re- vealed that the PN was receiv- ing donations from the same group, possibly in violation of party financing rules. The PN was still reeling from the scan- dal when the egrant allegations surfaced in April. 7. A four-year term fitted with Muscat's 10-year calendar plan In November 2015 Muscat had already hinted that he in- tended serving for 10 years as PM. The self-imposed 10-year timetable had already made it unlikely for Muscat to serve two full terms as this may have meant that Labour would have had to vote in a new leader im- mediately after an election in 2023. This raised the possibility of him opting for a shorter four- year term, to give a breathing space to the party to elect a successor sometime during his second term with Muscat leav- ing the stage in full glory. Mus- cat never managed to fulfil his timetable, having had to resign in disgrace after serving only six years in office. But this may have been a factor among many others. Yet in the end Muscat goes down in history as the PM who won elections with the greatest margins but who was unable to complete a single whole legis- lative term. This itself raises the question, why would a PM obsessed with his legacy deny himself the chance of complet- ing a five-year term? Or did he prioritize winning big over governing for long? For in the end, despite win- ning big in every election he contested as party leader, he ended serving for even less time than he had originally planned.