What they told us in 2011

The international economic crisis dominated news headlines throughout the year, and MaltaToday interviewed the key economic players and critics. Finance Minister Tonio Fenech does not just man our economy at the end of each year when he reads out the much anticipated Budget speech... he is also the architect of Malta's economy as a whole. Having masterminded Malta's accession to the eurozone in 2008, his responsibilities include economic policy, taxation, ensuring sound public finance and numerous state companies and entities.

Speaking to MaltaToday in November, Fenech said the 2012 budget will create the right climate for economic growth and said "We wanted to give a push to the middle class, keeping in mind that this is also the category which spends most." He also refuted the idea that government has ignored other social classes and said: "When you raise the minimum rate of the children's allowance, you do not only affect the middle classes but also a wider spectrum, including many families where both parents work and therefore their joint incomes make them ineligible for the higher means tested rate."

Fenech also defended government's failure to maintain the pre-electoral promise to slash the income tax rate by 10% and said in view of the international crisis, government decided to reach the same economic objective by launching a micro-investment scheme. He justified government's questionable optimism, despite the international crisis, on two grounds. He said the economy itself is creating results through an increase in investments, exports and employment and secondly, thanks to the spin off generated by capital projects.

MaltaToday also spoke to veteran economist Karm Farrugia a few days before the November budget and granted Tonio Fenech the benefit of the doubt over conflicting deficit reduction targets. He urged government to do more to kill the 'spider' that is undermining its otherwise good work on the economy.

Speaking on government's optimism, Farrugia told Malta Today: "Considering that he started with a deficit of 5% at a time when the world was entering recession in 2008, and somehow still managed to reduce the deficit... that was an achievement. I'm not commenting on his methods, mind you. The methods he used were partly economic, but mostly political..."

In a few months' time we could have a new finance minister and his name would most probably be Karmenu Vella. The shadow finance minister spoke to Malta Today and spelt out his economic policies and proposals. On taxation, Vella said the PL favours a shift "from both income tax and VAT, to a tax on environmental pollution. In other countries this is already in action. Even at EU level, there are discussions on how this kind of taxation model can generate economic growth and jobs."

Vella rubbished the criticism aimed at the PL for its alleged inclination to be everything to everyone and said: "The Labour Party neither tries to be loved by everyone, nor to look all rosy in the eyes of people. So much so, that we are often accused of 'always criticising'." Vella lambasted government on its un-kept promises on reducing income tax and described it as an "electoral gimmick".

Libya

The Libyan conflict dominated the headlines because of Malta's proximity and the role Malta played in humanitarian missions. However the public's imagination was captured by the protests held in front of the Libyan embassy in Attard by the sizeable Libyan community in Malta. In March, MaltaToday spoke to one of the community's ringleaders, Khaled Riani. He is best known as a comedian but his emotional outbursts while protesting in front of the Libyan embassy gave a different dimension to the general public's perception of Libya and Libyans.

Riani admitted his initial scepticism and said that the Libyans "never could have foreseen that this would happen... it was impossible... when it happened in Tunisia we said: 'no, it won't happen in Libya'. When it happened in Egypt we said: 'the wave of change has skipped Libya...' we said: 'no way, it will not happen here'."

The interview with Riani was held before Gaddafi was murdered; however, despite his enthusiasm for the revolution, Riani was cynical on whether Libya will ever become a democracy. "We are not prepared for democracy. We never had democracy. Even if an angel descends from heaven to govern Libya we won't have democracy. Even the way we discuss among ourselves lacks a sense of organisation. We talk and shout without listening to each other..."

In March 2011, Malta Today also spoke to Khaled Alashdar. Alashdar was the chief security officer at the Libyan embassy in Malta and abandoned his post to join the protestors outside the embassy. He claimed that Gaddafi's nephew, who resided in Malta, called him and asked to find as many Libyans as possible and offer them €500 each to demonstrate in favour of Gaddafi. 

For weeks, angry Libyans protested outside his embassy and made repeated calls for the ambassador's resignation and the removal of the all-green flag, but Libya's ambassador to Malta Saadun Suayeh remained defiant and refused to resign.

In August in an interview to Malta Today, ambassador Suayeh revealed that behind his facade of defiance, he was in regular contact with the Benghazi-based National Transitional Council, while also meeting with the Maltese government to discuss sensitive 'notes verbales' sent to him from Tripoli.

Suayeh said: "I was aware of the risk of doing this, but my conscience dictated to me that I was doing the right thing in protecting my own fellow people from the military onslaught."

Divorce

The divorce referendum might have never materialised were it not for the private members bill tabled by Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and Labour MP Evarist Bartolo. However, the undoubted star of the campaign was Deborah Schembri. She came out of nowhere and led a groundbreaking apolitical pro-divorce movement to a solid electoral victory, becoming a household name in the process. When the campaign was over, the self-confessed former PN activist declared her intentions to stand for the next general election as Labour candidate.

This might have come as a surprise to many... however, in an interview she justified her choice by saying "the campaign itself was an eye-opener. The way it unfolded, including how the Labour and Nationalist parties carried themselves, made me realise that I no longer felt as comfortable within the Nationalist Party as I once did". She however attributes her choice not to a shift in her ideals, but rather those within the PN describing the situation within the party as "claustrophobic".

Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and divorce were not the only thorns on Gonzi's very sore side. It has been a bizarre year for Gonzi, from an unwanted divorce bill, to public anger at ministerial salaries' increases, to internal bickering, hung parliamentary votes, an unfortunate public transport reform and the war in Libya.

Backbencher Franco Debono turned out to be a constant irritant for Gonzi throughout the year. In December 2009, Debono had deliberately absented himself from two parliamentary votes to protest at the way important reforms were being sidelined and backbenchers' voices were not being heard. Subsequently, he was appointed parliamentary assistant within the Office of the Prime Minister and has consistently called for Constitutional, judicial and police reform, and has also drafted a bill on party financing. He also brought about a minor political crisis after abstaining on a vote of no confidence in Transport Minister Austin Gatt.

Speaking to MaltaToday in September , Debono refuted the 'rebel' tag. "A rebel? No way. I am a representative of the people in a parliament in the 21st century," he said.

2012 is just one week away, and although the divorce and Libya issues seem to be squarely behind us, the economic crisis, thorny reforms and rebel MPs remain with us and Gonzi's troubles will not wash away with the arrival of the new year.