Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1489031
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 25 DECEMBER 2022 NEWS Christmas Specials • Politics AFTER being elected on his own steam with a super-major- ity, Robert Abela is no longer hostage to his predecessor's legacy, but has found himself constrained by a global crisis triggered by Vladimir Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine which brought inflation pres- sures to the fore. Like Lawrence Gonzi dur- ing the financial crisis after 2008, Abela portrays himself as a no-nonsense PM with a steady pair of hands presiding the country in testing times. And having successfully led the country during the pan- demic, Abela has so far earned the public's trust as a captain steering the ship in stormy wa- ters. Yet unlike Lawrence Gonzi, he was still able to present a "no pain" budget which includ- ed an increase in pensions, by increasing public debt – which remains well below the 60% of GDP – which is the Eurozone's red line. In short, after taming the wildfire of the pandemic by keeping businesses afloat with subsidies, he is still able to spend his way out of the lat- est crisis without resorting to new taxation. Compared with a shambolic opposition and the excesses of his predecessor, Abela gives peace of mind, which may well give the country some respite. But he has also shown signs of indecision on how he in- tends to modify a development model inherited from Muscat, which increased the size of the cake but was marred by cro- nyism, demographic pressures and a property boom which impacts both the environment and housing affordability. In short, Abela's paradox is that while he is expected to correct the excesses of an era which Labour celebrates as "the best of times", he still de- pends on the same motor en- gine to survive one crisis after the other. That explains why ministers like Clyde Caruana have questioned the sustaina- bility of a model of which they were its actual architects, but who are unable to present an alternative. Moreover, it re- mains business as usual for the construction moguls ruining Malta' townscapes. From summer of love to abor- tion discord After drifting into near invis- ibility during a soporific sum- mer during which the country tuned off politics to celebrate a post-COVID summer as Abela drifted on his boat in the Med- iterranean, he has now came back championing a bold re- form of archaic abortion laws at the risk of once again raising the political temperature again after a long lull. While Gonzi's post-2008 honeymoon was short and his exclusion of prominent party figures presaged trouble, Abe- la's style of leadership has had a lulling effect on the nation, as people switched off from politics after passing through a political crisis in 2019, a pan- demic between 2020 and 2021 and an electoral campaign six Abela: After a long calm summer, a perfect storm? After a spectacular victory in the general elections, Robert Abela lowered the political temperature as the country switched off from politics in the first post-pandemic summer. But will Malta's culture war on abortion re-ignite Labour's reformist spark? Like Gonzi before him, Abela shows no willingness to change the rules of the planning game and his party is at a loss when faced by civil society resistance like Graffiti's actions in Comino. Clearly under Abela, Labour's love affair with big developers continues with permits still being dished to whet the appetite of the likes of Joseph Portelli JAMES DEBONO