Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1546781
17 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 SEPTEMBER 2026 FEATURE firewalls and the will to enforce for Standards in Public Life and other in- stitutions provide independent checks and balances," Farrugia says. The question of transparency is particu- larly relevant because Farrugia had himself committed to a register of meetings while serving as environment and planning min- ister. The Villa Rosa episode in 2024 demon- strated the practical relevance of the issue. Back then MaltaToday argued that there was nothing inherently wrong with politi- cal leaders meeting major economic play- ers like Anton Camilleri. The question was whether meetings with Villa Rosa owner Anton Camilleri involved discussions about changes to the local plan and, if so, whether there was an official record of those discus- sions. The government confirmed that gov- ernment officials held meetings with the developer but did not clarify whether the prime minister himself was present. Malta still lacks a transparency register, despite the government saying in Septem- ber 2024 that it intended to introduce a broader package of governance and integ- rity reforms later that year. A register would not establish that a de- cision was improper. Nor would it prevent politicians from listening to business. It would simply make the interaction visible. From meetings to political money For Callus, however, transparency around meetings is only one part of the problem. "The next level that needs to be addressed is the political one," he says. One way wealthy people can acquire po- litical influence, he argues, is through the financing of political parties, party candi- dates and party media. Malta currently has no effective legal framework limiting such financing, Callus says, while increasingly lavish campaigns make parties more de- pendent on private money. He points to several possible models, in- cluding limits on campaign spending, pro- hibiting private financing above a certain amount and providing public funding. Xuereb also links Malta's political cul- ture to the way politicians are financed and elected. "It is a fact that politicians are inadequate- ly paid, and political parties rely heavily on donations," she says. She argues that the public is aware of the propensity for corruption but remains re- luctant to pay politicians adequately or support regulated state funding of political parties. "We love donation marathons and the aura of brown envelopes." She also points to Malta's 13 electoral districts, which are small enough for voters to know candidates personally and approach them when they need a favour. Xuereb believes a smaller number of larger districts, together with a smaller parliament made up of full-time adequately paid politicians, could pro- duce a more professional ap- proach to national politics. "But the two main parties don't seem to be interested in moving in this di- rection," she says. The state needs a firewall Xuereb also places the civil service itself at the centre of the problem. "The civil service should be the neutral backbone of govern- ment." Ministers set policy, she argues, but per- manent secretaries control budgets and procurement and must have the authority and integrity to block improper deals. She is particularly concerned about the growing number of "persons of trust", people hired directly by ministers for their personal loyalty. "When their number grows into the thousands across the whole civil service, po- litical loyalty and clientelism becomes deep- ly embedded, and career civil servants find it harder to hold fort." Regulatory bodies, she argues, should also be adequately funded and accountable to parliament rather than only to their minis- ter. "They certainly should not serve as provid- ers of superfluous jobs for those who ask for a job on the eve of an election," she says. Xuereb also identifies indirect employ- ment through private contractors as an area requiring parliamentary scrutiny, arguing that it can bypass civil service recruitment restrictions and create incentives to favour more accommodating contractors. For Callus, however, the necessary reforms extend beyond administrative safeguards. He points to the recommendations of the 2021 public inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and argues that the government has failed to implement any significant part of the recommendations dealing with links between political power and business. He also points to the ab- sence of laws on unex- plained wealth, abuse of office, interference with criminal investigations and mafia-style criminal associations. Callus points out that Robert Abela has even portrayed some of these measures as potentially harmful to Malta's economy. Beyond the rules Callus believes the problem ultimately ex- tends beyond the machinery of government. "There is then an even larger and more structural level that needs to be addressed— the economic model itself," he says. He links the strengthening of ties between big business and politics to a period of strong but unequal economic growth, during which certain individuals accumulated enormous wealth. "The wider the inequalities in wealth be- come, the greater the ability of the wealthy to influence political decisions," he argues. His proposed response therefore includes higher taxes on the wealthiest and better wages for workers, which he says would not only contribute to a fairer economy but al- so limit the ability of wealthy individuals to amass unlimited power. In this aspect the three perspectives quoted in this piece differ substantially. Aaron Farrugia emphasises the value of ac- cess and the need to preserve Malta's agility. Marisa Xuereb accepts the importance of business-government dialogue but argues for much stronger safeguards around it. Andre Callus sees the relationship between political and economic power as a structural problem requiring changes to the political, administrative and economic system. But despite the differences, all converge on one important point—contact itself is not the problem. The rules governing that contact are. The reforms that never arrived The failure to regulate access between pol- iticians and business is not for lack of pro- posals. Labour had already pledged a public transparency register in its 2017 manifesto. A transparency register was also proposed by the Standards Commissioner George Hyzler, requiring ministers and other public officials to record relevant communications with lobbyists, including the subject and par- ticipants. The OECD subsequently endorsed the approach, describing a public register as a way of allowing scrutiny of who is accessing decision-makers, when and on what issues. Yet the proposal has remained on the shelf. MaltaToday reported in 2024 that the Office of the Prime Minister had ignored repeated reminders from the Standards Commission- er to implement the register. That leaves the boundary between legiti- mate access and privileged access dependent to a large degree on trust. And trust is pre- cisely what has been damaged by the revela- tions surrounding Fenech. Xuereb's broader warning is worth re- turning to. Rules can mitigate the risks, she argues, but those who make them may be reluctant to impose them unconditionally because they limit their own powers. Busi- nesses that benefit from privileged access may also have little interest in tighter regu- lation. The difficulty is not designing the rules but whether there is sufficient political will to impose them.Despite being under the spot- light, the Abela government has not been keen on reforms seeking to regulate contact between politicians and business tycoons, possibly because it challenges Abela's own modus operandi. The Fenech trial has made some of these relationships impossible to ignore. The dan- ger now is that, rather than regulating them, politics simply normalises them. This is what happens when an eco- system of politicians, businessmen and public officials becomes so ingrained that its blurred boundaries no longer require explanation, and transparency becomes an inconvenience precisely be- cause it threatens an established modus operandi? The emperor is not only naked. He knows he is naked, knows everyone can see it, and carries on parading anyway. resignation of Planning Authority Executive Chairman Johann (Photo: Moviment Graffitti) Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat insisted the proximity between politicians and businesspersons was not inherently wrong, when delivering his reaction to the Yorgen Fenech trial verdict Economist Marisa Xuereb, a former president of the Chamber of Commerce