2022 showed us Malta is undergoing radical change yet again

What could have struck me as the major event or person of the year in 2022? I am thinking very hard and I cannot quite figure out what, or who has really left their mark.

On a political level, I have been left confused and lost – surely one can easily pick out the most disliked of politicians, but I cannot think of one illuminating politician who has captured our political imagination.

Surely the one politician who clearly deserved what he got was former Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi – a beating that came not from some press column, but from his own electorate. Azzopardi could not quite recover from his ‘qabar ta’ Kristu’ tale, which uncovered his two-facedness, preaching moral uprightness in all aspects of life while he was living it large with someone else on an Israeli holiday with a few freebies at the Tel Aviv Hilton thanks to the Tumas family. That certainly struck a chord with the Maltese at large.

And it was not just this incident that unveiled the quality of person that Azzopardi is, but it was also his habit of playing mischief with the lives of individuals using information he plucked from the courts of law that was not specifically intended for public consumption. 

When the electorate rejected him roundly, in his typical fashion Azzopardi lashed out at his bruised party leader for his failure at the polls. Weeks before he had been pouring praise on Bernard Grech as some special schoolmate whom he held in high regard; now that he had been spat out by the electorate, he started turning on Grech just so that he could get his just satisfaction.

Having said that, there is no doubt that Grech himself has lost whatever momentum he could have acquired in the aftermath of the Delia challenge in 2022. He lost too in the 2022 election polls, yet he has clung onto his leadership, thinking he has still much to offer... and does he?

Grech may be an improved public speaker, but all of his former advisers seem to have left him. And when it comes to political vision, what kind of new aspiration has Grech offered the Maltese electorate? For if he actually did, that would be something that people can actually remember of him – it would be something that sways public perception of him and the Nationalist Party.

Indeed, he does not realise that his continued stewardship of the PN can only lead to the further sinking of his party. The PN can continue to pretend it is an opposition, because it is only occupying a space occupied by the ghost of this party; and at a time when it should be reinventing itself, propelling itself as a modern centrist, Europeanist party, it can only galvanise support with the fight against abortion rights.

Even while facing his own party support issues, Robert Abela still enjoys political invincibility, even when his own ministers and MPs privately believe his style of government is not dynamic, yet these men and women are too timid to raise a voice of concern. Some say it is only a matter time before someone faces up to Abela.

However, any critic knows that Abela has executed brave reforms which were long coming, even if his leadership tends to create invisible but deep tension inside his Cabinet and party. Abela’s balancing act will have to stand the test of time to cement his legacy as a successful Labour Party leader.

Naturally enough, Labour’s continued administration of the island has had to withstand not just the challenges of the post-pandemic recovery, but also the effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It seems that even with the way dominating the news bulletins, it did not change our way of life, with the cushioning effect of energy subsidies leaving us relatively unscathed. It comes at a cost. And inflation is starting to bite, and it will get worse in 2023. 

This year has also served to raise the value of civil society groups working in the environmental field, even though they are still miles away from creating a domino effect and stall the construction industry – which has the political class by the proverbial balls. 

But it is only a question of chance or circumstance before a charismatic individual rises from the ashes and galvanises public opinion against government – even though most people cannot really complain that they are having it bad. That is the wish of many Nationalists, who are frustrated to see their party in such a pitiful state.

But the fact is that 2022 reconfirmed the strong role that the State plays in supporting families and businesses, with universal measures of support, often not means-tested, but generating consent from all and sundry. The prospect of raising more cash from government bonds in 2023 is a sign that the nanny state’s cash is also running out, with €1 billion in new bonds expected to sustain the spending spree. It will not come without a long-term impact.

With the general mood that Malta’s finances are strong and unshakeable, little seems to dampen business prospects or consumer behaviour across various levels of society.

Yet, one segment of society has reflected how deeply Malta is changing, and in 2022 that was the high percentage of non-voters (around 60,000 chose to remain home in the 2022 election). And the way the younger generation feels disconnected from senior groups of society who seem disconnected from the fast-paced changes taking hold of society and the world.

It is the younger demographic that we should be looking out for. They have little patience and respect for old centres of oligarchic power such as political parties or the Church; they easily embrace radical notions of feminism, gender liberation, sexual health and reproductive rights, and end-of-life rights. That is why women are writing history in Malta as we speak and in 2023. 

Once again, this history washes over Malta and nobody is able to withstand the tide of change – that should serve as a warning to all those who think this island is immune to the forces of change.

A Merry Christmas to you all.