When it all goes wrong, watch out for ‘the Farage’

“While he says exiting the EU is suicide, the Prime Minister was reacting in a manner that almost justified the decision… by using the word euro-realist he put himself in the same league as Farage, Johnson and Cameron.”

These were Simon Busuttil’s words on Joseph Muscat’s reaction to Brexit, going overboard in seeing echoes of Nigel Farage in Muscat’s “euro-realism.” Not only has Muscat reneged his euro-sceptic past; he now presides over an economic boom which sees Malta thriving while attracting thousands of EU workers. Thankfully he has also regretted his pushback moment (and pre-election populist rethoric on immigration); and unlike politicians like Farage, he has repeatedly called for greater integration of migrant communities living in Malta.

Busuttil may not be far off the mark in reading through Muscat’s lack of conviction and passion for the European project. Muscat’s own experience in European politics when it came to migration must have reinforced his conviction that self-interest is the rule of the game in the European Union. This may be partly true but the EU means a lot more than this: resolving conflicting interests through patient give-and-take negotiations is in itself a value to be cherished in a era where strongmen seek to undermine collective decision-making to please national audiences.

Malta may be a more fertile ground for home-grown Farages than we think when it comes to fundamental values

Europe is more likely a cash cow for Muscat, one which gets milked to the national advantage. What value would a Maltese passport have had Malta not joined the EU in 2004? Which is why the comparison he made in January 2014 between the “no strings attached” €1 billion in cash from the IIP and the EU funds, is revealing: “This by far outstrips the funds Malta would receive from the EU in the next seven years.”

And should we be surprised? After all, wasn’t EU membership itself sold to us by the Nationalist government as a cash cow of funds (mitt miljun pre-2003 billboards)?

Today Muscat has taken the game to a new level, exploiting Malta’s position in the EU by cashing in on citizenship and turning it into a commodity. While Malta is busy selling this cherished right to global elites, millions of Britons have now realised the value of their own EU citizenship

Brexit reminds us how basic liberties such as the EU’s freedom of movement cannot be taken for granted, and that EU citizenship offers no protection against politicians bent on taking away these liberties.

Muscat made a mockery of this most cherished EU freedom and even managed to get the seal of approval from the European Commission, which itself shows how the European institutions failed to intervene to defend EU citizenship from being turned into a commodity. It cannot even clamp down on countries like Cyprus who have embarked on the same road. At least, if anything Brexit should trigger a new EU law that regulates EU citizenship and create a stronger bond with citizens.

Busuttil can’t escape the reality that he too is on the euro-realist side of the fence when it comes to defending Malta’s financial services

To go back to Farage: Busuttil can’t escape the reality that he too is on the euro-realist side of the fence when it comes to defending Malta’s financial services industry against EU tax harmonisation attempts.

Indeed Muscat remains coherent in his vision of EU membership as a competitive advantage in global markets, when Busuttil wants to run with the hares and hunt with the hounds. One cannot be sanctimonious on European values and talk platitudes when their actions don’t match their words.

Financial services is a sector that enriches both Maltese and global elites, as well as delivers a good deal of national revenue and jobs, even if it remains questionable whether this wealth is trickling down and whether our dependence on this sector is sustainable in the long run. 

One can’t expect Malta not to protect its own interests as other European countries often do. But both Muscat and Busuttil have an obligation to start addressing the perception (and reality) of Malta as a tax haven, a reputation reinforced by the Panama Papers and which flies in the face of global demands for tax justice.

We’re probably just keen Europeanists simply because our economy has so far thrived and both major parties nominally pay homage to the European dream.

Ignoring the elephant in the room is a dangerous game. We risk reinforcing our dependence with an over-supply of properties, which depends on even more companies opening their offices here in the hope of reducing their tax exposure in other member states. High-rise buildings may stand as a monument of our dependence on financial services: an Environmental Impact Assessment for the proposed 40-storey hotel in Tigné was described as “Malta’s economic and technological coming of age, particularly since the ‘tower’ is often strongly associated with the financial services sector.”

The debate on Europe has not even started in Malta.

We’re probably just keen Europeanists simply because our economy has so far thrived and both major parties nominally pay homage to the European dream.

It may all change the moment the Maltese economy stops growing. It could get worse if the property bubble bursts in our face.

And Malta may be a more fertile ground for home-grown Farages than we think. For when it comes to a debate on fundamental values, our political class has been completely absent. When these difficulties emerge we will need politicians of conviction to make the case for Europe in Malta.