Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/258814
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 12 FEBRUARY 2014 9 News Muscat's vision: Do not covet thy (rich) neighbour level it makes government spend- ing dependent on income from one particular scheme which creates an illusion of easy money and raises expectations for public spending. Sustaining such expenditure may be difficult to sustain in the future, either because the EU will legislate to fill the loophole or in the absence of that, simply because other EU member states emulate Malta's ex- ample, thus increasing the compe- tition. Still, such income may buy Muscat valuable time in postponing electorally distasteful decisions. In fact, Muscat may well have found a way of defusing a time bomb left in the government's vault by the previous Nationalist govern- ment, which promised to reduce income tax on the eve of elections, thus prompting Muscat to make the same commitment. Fully know- ing that the PN was heading for de- feat, the Nationalists may well have hoped that Muscat would face a fast erosion of popularity as he struggled to make ends meet without increas- ing the deficit. But instead of in- creasing taxes or reducing expendi- ture, Muscat shows a remarkable ability to think outside the box, even if this thinking may have a negative impact on the country's reputation and environment. Moreover, the citizenship scheme itself does not reward "innovation creativity, enterprise and determi- nation". Instead it crudely rewards wealth as an end to citizenship. At best it would be securing funds for measures aimed at cultivating innovation by attracting people which may have no interest whatev- er in the country and whose major bond to the country would be that of buying property… hardly a sign of innovation. Significantly absent from the leader's speech is any reference to environmental protection, which is increasingly conflicting with the government's keen interest in reviv- ing the property market. This shows a complete lack of concern for post material values, something which could be symptomatic of Muscat's ideological formation. The absence of any reference to environmental protection in such a landmark speech may well suggest that Labour's future plans for rev- enue generation may well conflict with environmental protection. One case in point could be land reclama- tion, which may involve the sale of public land on a massive scale in a way which may further buy Muscat more time in delaying inevitable re- forms. References to equality remain the only left wing nuance in Muscat's essentially neo-liberal speech. In Muscat's narrative, social justice remains the key to have a just dis- tribution of wealth, the best educa- tion possible and first-rate health services. Moreover, thanks to the hard work of Ministers like Evarist Bartolo and Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, Muscat's government has been proactive on key sectors like education and social policy. Still, the financing of these services is more than ever dependent on accelerated capitalist development. While Mus- cat is right in underlining the im- portance of social mobility as a way to achieve more equality, he seems to be excluding any taxation which serves as a vehicle for a redistribu- tion of income. Moreover, while advocating 'equality', Muscat remains com- pletely aloof to the rights of immi- grants from Africa who form a part of the Maltese working class but are unrepresented by the Labour Party. The citizenship scheme also ignores another segment of the working class, composed of legal foreign workers from non-EU countries. It is on civil rights for Maltese na- tionals that Muscat remains on the liberal side of the spectrum, going even beyond electoral expectations, in his bid to introduce a civil union bill which is set to allow adoptions for same sex couples. It also seems that Muscat's reformist zeal will not stop at gay rights. Hinting at a possible change in the drug laws, possibly opening up the road to decriminalisation, Muscat said that the state should "help and not punish whoever committed a crime for the first time, be reason- able and not come down with an iron fist". Ultimately as long as Muscat man- ages to keep his coalition intact by avoiding any painful decision, Mus- cat may well continue to occupy territory traditionally occupied by the Nationalist Party. In fact Mus- cat's vision remains appealing to liberal-minded centre-right voters who have no qualms on class based inequality. For by speaking the same business- friendly language as the National- ists while liberalising social mores, Muscat may well become a natural home for this category of voters. Moreover Muscat's 'caudillo' image not only helps to keep rank and file Labourites in line but also makes his power more seductive for those who supported the Nationalist Party as the party in power, rather than because of any sense of ideological loyalty. Faced with such a formida- ble adversary the PN's greatest mis- take would be that of retreating to the trenches. In fact by not even mentioning Simon Busuttil once in his speech, Muscat may be trying to condemn the Opposition to a state of irrele- vance. This may well be intended as a way of diminishing the Opposition's gravitas following the government's first major setback following its re- treat in the citizenship debate. Still, the general conference has exposed the PN's failure so far to come up with an alternative narrative to Mus- cat's vision of capitalist development. The dilemma for the PN remains on how to go beyond a tribal opposition for its own sake by proposing an al- ternative model of social develop- ment, inspired by values which are presently being sidelined by Muscat. Significantly absent from Muscat's speech is any reference to environmental protection, which is increasingly conflicting with the government's keen interest in reviving the property market