Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1398274
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 AUGUST 2021 OPINION under normal circumstances I probably wouldn't even have mentioned that last detail at all. For when all is said and done (and sung)… Bernie Taupin clearly had no idea what he was on about, when he wrote the lyrics to Elton John's hit single: 'Sorry Is The Hardest Word'. Under the present circum- stances, I'd say it is actually the other way round. 'Apologising to the Caruana Galizias' was arguably the easiest way Rob- ert Abela could possibly have responded: for one thing, be- cause it costs him next to noth- ing at all, in political terms… (far less than, say, taking ac- tion against a popular Cabinet colleague)… and also because: well, it doesn't exactly do very much to address the 'culture of impunity' either, does it? And already, in fact, there is some evidence that – apology, or no apology – Abela doesn't quite consider himself com- pelled to implement all those recommendations to begin with. In his parliamentary ad- dress, for instance, he even boasted that most, if not all, of the proposed institutional re- forms have in fact already been undertaken: citing, among oth- er things, the recent changes to the appointment of the judici- ary, etc.. Besides: his own repeated claim that today's 'Maltese State' is already very different from the one that it replaced in 2020, suggests that – to Rob- ert Abela's own mind, at least – there is actually very little left to do, in practical terms, to even implement those recom- mendations at all. This in turn implies that Rob- ert Abela may also be under the impression that his apolo- gy, on its own, will somehow be enough to satisfy all the criteria for national closure; and that – having now duly apologised - the whole issue will simply blow over, all of its own ac- cord… If so, however… well, I reckon he's got another guess coming. All the same, however: I still wouldn't be too quick to dis- miss Robert Abela's apology as a mere token gesture, or mean- ingless formality… if nothing else because – and quite frank- ly, this took me by surprise, too – the Caruana Galizia actually accepted the apology. And as far as I can see: that really does put a whole new perspective onto proceedings. Not only does Robert Abela's 'mea culpa' mark the first time that a Labour government offi- cial – and the Prime Minister, no less - has openly admitted to all those 'shortcomings' identi- fied by the report; but – also for the first time – the entire coun- try seems to have been given at least a distant glimpse… if not of a possible future closure; at least, what the whole 'national healing process' might actually end up looking like. Admittedly, we still remain very, VERY far from reaching that target… but I, for one, detected – in both the tone of Abela's apology itself; and also in the gracious (albeit condi- tional) way it was received by the Caruana Galizias – the pos- sibility of a future rapproche- ment, of the kind that has to date always seemed quite… un- imaginable, really. And it looks I'm not the on- ly one. Suddenly, the President of the Republic does not sound quite so naïve, or 'out of touch with reality', when he likewise expresses his belief that "this report can, and must, serve as the point of departure for a national healing process for the trauma this brutal assassi- nation has precipitated since 2017." If you ask me, it is the word 'can' – far more than 'must' – that really stands out in that sentence. For the inquiry report itself not only spells out a prac- tical blueprint for how those shortcomings might conceivably be addressed – but it also serves as the equivalent of a negotiat- ing table, where both sides of the dispute can actually meet to thrash out their differences. As Paul Caruana Galizia put it yesterday: "What's important is that government really imple- ments these reforms. It would be a shame if an independent inquiry's recommendations are turned into a partisan cher- ry-picking exercise…" And while you could al- ways interpret that as a sub- tle reminder that the Caruana Galizia family (quite rightly) expects more than 'just an apol- ogy' from Robert Abela – in its own words, it also wants 'full accountability' – it still repre- sents a roadmap, of sorts, to in- dicate precisely how the coun- try really can conceivably close this dark chapter, once and for all, and finally move on. And, let's face it: it was on- ly (quite literally) yesterday that… well… none of that really seemed possible at all… I still wouldn't be too quick to dismiss Robert Abela's apology as a mere token gesture, or meaningless formality… if nothing else because – and quite frankly, this took me by surprise, too – the Caruana Galizia actually accepted the apology. And as far as I can see: that really does put a whole new perspective onto proceedings