Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1531391
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 JANUARY 2025 ANALYSIS FROM PREVIOUS PAGE The crisis also diverted attention from corruption scandals, including the fallout from the arrest of 17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech. This weakened the momentum of civil society and relegated the corruption issue in the list of public concerns. Abela also scored political points by refusing entry to asylum seekers and depicting NGO Repubblika as nation- al traitors after they initiated legal proceedings against him and the ar- my for allegedly sabotaging a migrant boat – charges which were later dis- missed in court. While using this confrontation to strengthen his appeal among party hawks, Abela still signalled a break with the Muscat era by expelling Kon- rad Mizzi from the parliamentary group in June and securing Muscat's exit from parliament in October. In his dealings with the former PM, he treaded carefully, even offering a good severance package and never blaming him for the mess he inherited. For a while, it seemed that Abela was his own man. Following a brief dip in popularity during the initial uncertainty, Ab- ela's trust ratings peaked again in April 2020, surpassing the 60% mark as Malta successfully managed the vi- rus without a total lockdown. During this period, Abela shared the platform with leadership rival Chris Fearne, whose role as health minister, along- side Health Superintendent Char- maine Gauci, reassured the nation. In this sense, Fearne's sobriety comple- mented Abela's optimism, boosting Abela's image among non-partisans. Waves in the sea However, as the weeks passed, the pandemic grew more frustrating for an eager Abela, who hurried to lift restrictions on bars and restaurants as summer 2020 neared, dismissing concerns with his now-infamous re- mark that the only waves he could see were in the sea. This declaration backfired as cases surged in August, catching Abela off guard while he was on his boat in Ragusa. Although the extension of COVID assistance kept businesses and families afloat, Abela's popularity dipped to 40% by March 2021 amidst record case numbers. However, a successful vaccination rollout presided over by his health minister restored public confidence. By June, Abela's trust ratings once again surpassed 50%, despite Malta's greylisting by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for shortcomings in anti-money laundering rules. COV- ID also had an unforeseen impact on public sentiment, fostering a great- er appreciation for green and public spaces. This sentiment inevitably col- lided with the economic model that Abela had inherited from his predeces- sor. Once again, Abela reluctantly em- braced change, reversing controversial decisions, such as plans for a yacht ma- rina in Marsaskala and the transfer of public land in Żonqor to the so-called American University of Malta. A mandate of his own Confident in his crisis-management credentials, Abela called an early gen- eral election in 2022, projecting him- self as the steady ship captain Malta needed amidst Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He secured a landslide vic- tory with an even larger margin than Muscat, even though Labour's vote shrunk by 8,200 compared to 2017. This was largely due to increased ab- stention among Nationalist voters. However, inflation soon eroded pur- chasing power, and while Abela used public funds to shield families and businesses from energy price spikes, this strategy limited spending in other sectors, albeit without drastically im- pacting public finances. Still, Abela's greatest strength remained his stew- ardship in difficult times. Despite securing his own mandate in 2022, Abela struggled to escape Muscat's shadow. In March 2023, the courts annulled the Steward Health- care hospitals contract, triggering a trust rating drop to an all-time low of 34% and costing Labour its super- majority. The greatest blow came in the summer of 2023 when polls Prime Minister Robert Abela flanked by his deputy prime minister Chris Fearne and Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci during a press conference in October 2020 when new restrictions were announced as COVID cases spiked