Investment, what investment?

The Auditor’s report for 2023, published a few days ago, makes fascinating reading and, as the Auditor General points out in its introduction, there are four important and main issues that require attention. These are the bypassing of procurement regulations, including services rendered under expired contracts and the absence of the necessary approval; the limited internal controls and Standard Operating Procedures; the lack of substantiating documentation supporting the payment of allowances and overtime; and the inadequate project management leading to delays and overspending.

I am sure that the various accounts of mismanagement recorded by the Auditor will be publicised in the media in the days to come. There are so many that one contribution of mine will not suffice.

The report says that during 2023, the Maltese government acquired a new investment of 500,000 shares of €1 each in KM Malta Airlines Ltd. The total amount of €500,000 was transferred to this new company, as part of the national airline restructuring assistance. Otherwise no new investments were recorded.

According to the dictionary, an investment is an asset or item acquired to generate income or gain appreciation. Appreciation is the increase in the value of an asset over time. It requires the outlay of a resource today, like time, effort, and money for a greater payoff in the future, generating a profit.

And yet, the government propaganda machine is continually boasting of its investment in our children’s future, in the environment, in the people’s health and in so many other things. The misuse of the word ‘investment’ is obvious.

This point, incidentally, was made by Alfred Sant last Monday in his weekly column in The Malta Independent. He insisted that the word investment has a precise meaning, explaining that ‘broadly speaking, it refers to those funds that get spent on raw materials, equipment and technological knowhow which add up to launch projects meant to create future wealth, by serving as infrastructure (like roads, water reservoirs...). Or, alternatively by running as enterprises which create wealth as when products are manufactured by workers employed in the project that over the years will yield profits from sales to underwrite the initial investment.’

That is, of course, Alfred Sant’s interpretation of the word investment, rather than its ‘precise meaning’ as he claims.

He goes on to complain that the word ‘investment’ is today being used more loosely. Too loosely, I would say. For example, an increase in the pay of government employees and increases in social benefits are described as ‘investment’.

This criticism of the use of the word ‘investment’ by current administration’s propaganda machinery is certainly justified, even though Sant’s interpretation of the word ‘investment’ is much wider than that of the Auditor General.

According to the government’s spokesmen and spokeswomen anything can be labelled an ‘investment’. The building of a school is an ‘investment’ in our children’s future. The building of a road is an ‘investment’ in our transport system. This goes on and on. It seems that everything the government spends money for is an ‘investment’.

By this reckoning, whenever I use the toilet, I would be ‘investing’ in my health.

But the government insists on using the word ‘investment’. It seems that the dividends from all this ‘investment’ are expected by the party in government in the guise of votes in the elections, rather than by the exchequer itself!

Meloni - a shining star

The website Politico recently released a list of the most influential names on the European continent and also listed the top woman, specifically, the female personality whose word matters more than any other in Europe. She is not Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission but it is Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is the most powerful woman in Europe.

The fact is, however, that before she was elected prime minister of Italy, hardly anyone knew her. All they knew was that her former partner and father of her only daughter was a left-wing journalist.

After divorcing her husband, Meloni took to the European stage, proving her diplomatic mastery as the camera captured her chatting with Elon Musk.

According to Politico, if someone wants to talk to Europe, even if it is Elon Musk – the world’s richest man and a close adviser to Donald Trump – they have to dial Meloni’s phone number.

In a few years, the leader of the right-wing Fratelli d’Italia party has transformed herself to a commanding figure with whom Brussels and Washington can work.

Meloni made headlines around the world when she won the title of the first female prime minister in Italy. Indeed, at the time few had predicted that her tenure in power would last.

Shortly after taking office as prime minister in 2022, Meloni was quick to promote retrograde policies on issues such as immigration and the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, issues that would once have drawn harsh criticism from Brussels.

The leader of the right-wing Fratelli d’Italia party has transformed herself to a commanding figure

Instead, the reaction from European Union leaders has ranged from indifference to approval, with many accepting Meloni as the delightful spokesperson “blossoming” on both sides of the Atlantic. Today conventional politicians are unable to deal with her on the European stage.

In the past two years, however, Meloni has consolidated her government as one of the most stable in Italy’s post-war history, while she kept on publicly using the traditional masculine form of her official title, ‘Il Presidente del Consiglio’.

The columnist Charlemagne, who writes a commentary about the EU every week in The Economist, recently described her as ‘Europe’s Trump card.’ The pun is obvious. But the idea is that the EU could and should use Meloni to tackle Donald Trump.

According to Charlemagne, two groups in the EU are jostling for Trump’s affections. The first is the continent’s old guard – the leaders of France, Germany and Poland who probably loathe Trump but cannot show it. The other group are ‘his ideological chums’ – Viktor Orban of Hungary and Robert Fico of Slovakia.

Meloni finds herself with a foot in both camps and facing a balancing act: How to benefit from her proximity to Trump without alienating her existing EU allies.

How she will play her cards in the circumstances will be an interesting exercise.