Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1510993
thanks to the Minister [Clyde Caruana], for all his hard work, etc. It was at this precise moment – after having stared at her im- passively (and almost unblink- ingly) throughout – that Caru- ana Cilia suddenly interjected: "Do they thank him for the millions that were stolen by Vi- tals, too?" And… hey presto! Suddenly, we are all expected to simply overlook all Ms Vella's argu- ments; and instead, subscribe to a 'fantasy universe' in which past Nationalist governments had NOT spent 25 entire years neglecting pensioners (and oth- er 'lesser mortals'), in budget, after budget, after budget… … just because Jerome Caru- ana Cilia uttered the magical incantation, 'VITALS!', on live TV (and – to his credit – suc- ceeded in actually resembling Harry Potter a little more than he usually does, anyway…) Erm… sorry, but – just as Je- rome Caruana Cilia himself would no doubt argue, with re- gard to Muscat's earlier 'unau- thorised use of magical spells' - the same applies to both him- self, and the Opposition Party he represents…. … even more so, I would say: not least, because (as I might have mentioned earlier) the topic under debate, in that par- ticular episode of 'Popolin', was actually 'Budget 2024'… and NOT 'the Vitals scandal', that Caruana Cilia kept trying to surreptitiously 'sneak into the discussion'. Clearly, then, the word 'Vi- tals' was being used in much the same way as Muscat would later use 'Egrant': i.e., as some kind of 'magical spell', designed to: 1) Conjure up an instant 'smokescreen', to hide the Op- position's lack of any SERIOUS criticism of Budget 2024 [Note: and how can the PN even crit- icise any of this budget's meas- ures… when they're not even proposing anything substan- tially different, themselves?]; 2) Create a 'diversion', of the kind that Harry Potter himself might describe as… 'MUTATIS SUBJECTUS!' (in other words, an attempt to simply derail the entire discussion, by continual- ly 'changing the subject' when- ever it's not going your way...) And let's face it, folks: Jerome Caruana Cilia is far from be- ing the only Opposition Party member, who responds to all such criticism by simply 'wav- ing a wand about', and shout- ing 'MUTATIS SUBJECTUS!', in tones reminiscent of 'Sever- us Snape'... Bernard Grech's formal re- sponse to Budget 2024, for in- stance, was to complain that: "Government did not say any- thing about the €400 million it should be getting back…"; and "The government colluded with those who defrauded the country, so no wonder it can- not reclaim the money", etc, etc. Now: all that may even be cor- rect, at the end of the day. The problem, however, is that – be- yond some very vague allusions to 'the rest of the healthcare sector', in general – there was barely a single mention, any- where in the Opposition Par- ty's official statement in Budget 2024, of any of the measures it actually contains. There was not a word about 'pensions', for instance; or the 'energy sector'; or the 'con- struction industry'; or 'agricul- ture' – just to name a few that were actually impacted, one way or another, by this year's budget. Instead, there is simply a blanket 'argument' – which I think you'll find vaguely fa- miliar; seeing as it's IDENTI- CAL to Joseph Muscat's, above - that: "Because the Labour government has been 'found guilty' (in the PN's POV) of at least one major corruption scandal (Vitals), in the past… well, that's it! Nothing left to even discuss. Because that one corruption scandal, you see, is enough to simply eclipse ALL other issues, that happen to be ongoing in Malta today…." So never mind if you hap- pen to care about certain oth- er issues, facing this country (including the environment; the cost of living; Malta's age demographics; water scarcity; traffic, transport, overpopula- tion… take your pic) either as much as, or even MORE than, 'whether Malta ever gets its stolen E400 million back, or not'… You're out of luck, I'm afraid. Because from now on, Malta's only Opposition Party is only ever going to be interested in discussing: 'Vitals, Vitals, Vi- tals, Vitals, Vitals…!', from now till the next election. And if, once again, all that seems vaguely familiar, to your ears: it's probably because - like me - you remember the months preceding the 2017 election… when the Nationalist Par- ty's rallying cry (if not, entire 'raison d'etre') had likewise been: 'Egrant, Egrant, Egrant, Egrant!', all the way down to the final whistle. And, well… we all know how THAT went for the National- ist Party in the end, don't we? (Moral of the story: compari- sons really ARE 'odious', after all…) maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 NOVEMBER 2023 OPINION 11 In Joseph Muscat's mind, 'Egrant' has clearly become something of a 'magic word', that automatically 'absolves' him of… in this case, the Vitals scandal; but presumably, also any other link to any other corruption allegation, that somehow involves either himself as former Prime Minister; or the government he once led