EU accession will not be the only issue

The EU will be one of the issues for the next general elections. People want first and foremost to solve the needs of our country and not worry about EU membership whilst everything else is being neglected. Former Labour Minister Charles Buhagiar speaks to RAY ABDILLA about the medicine which Malta really needs, if it really wants to head the right way

"The EU will be an issue in the coming general election but it will not be the only issue. There are other issues which are of more relevance to the man in the street including the management (or mismanagement) of the country on domestic issues, our swiftly deteriorating standard of living and social conditions, the country’s worsening economic and financial situation and the environment.

"Regarding the man in the street, yes there probably are Nationalists against EU membership and Labourites in favour but I would not say that there is such a trend within the Labour parliamentary group." These are the thoughts of Charles Buhagiar, former Minister for Public Works and Construction under the Labour administration 1996-98, and currently opposition main spokesperson for infrastructure and capital projects.

Charles Buhagiar became active in the Malta Labour Party after graduating from University in 1979. He was then 24 years old.

His father’s family background was staunch Labourite since they were closely related to Sir Paul Boffa, ex-Labour Prime Minister and leader of the MLP. At the time of the split, in spite of close family relations, his father, who at the time was one of the founders of the Labour League of Youth (forerunner of today’s Forum Zghazagh Laburisti) decided to back the (then) young firebrand politician Dom Mintoff.

"I would say politics was an integral part of our family life and whenever the family met at my grandmother's the discussion always turned to politics. Obviously with such a background politics came naturally to me. You may therefore say that my father did influence me in my decision to run for politics. Incidentally he also influenced me in the choice of my career, that of a Perit.

"I started out in the Young Socialist League not at Vittoriosa but at Rabat and then at Attard where I took up residence. My family had left Vittoriosa in 1978 and we went to live in Balzan. I served as president of the Young Socialist League in Attard until I was 30. I then became president of the local committee in Attard, and later president of the eleventh district committee," the former Labour Minister said.

He contested his first election in 1987 and was persuaded to do so by Dr. Daniel Micallef, then Minister for Education who was and still is a personal friend. According to the Labour MP, Daniel is a very idealistic person who gives very strong attention to the environment. "I would say he was the first real environment Minister in Malta," Mr Buhagiar said.

Dr. Daniel Micallef and Mr. Freddie Micallef also contested the eleventh district, both senior ministers at the time. So Buhagiar’s chances for election were very slim. He did get elected in a by-election when Freddie Micallef resigned his seat.

In 1987 he did not contest the 2 district even though he came from Vittoriosa because this district had a list of very strong established candidates including Dom Mintoff, Lorry Sant and Joe Grima. He stood for election there in 1992 with no success since by that time he had been absent from Vittoriosa for more than 14 years and had lost contact with most of his friends. However since 1987 he has always contested the district which includes the village he resides in (Attard) and has always been elected – even when his district was radically changed such as in 1992 when Rabat was removed from his district and Attard was placed in the seventh district.

When I asked him what the difference is between the two major political parties in Malta, Mr Buhagiar stated;

"There is a big difference between the PN and the MLP because the MLP tends to give much more attention and manages better domestic bread and butter issues. The reason for this is historical in the sense that since the Labour Party started off as a workers' party then such issues had greater relevance to the MLP than to the PN. This difference translates itself also into a wider context in other issues.

"A problem which the Nationalist government is not really handling is infrastructure work as works are left to progress at their own speed with little or no management. This can be seen very clearly in roadworks. One may agree with the choice of priorities in the works currently being carried out, still the time being taken to complete any road is much too long. This is not a question of funds but it shows a clear lack of political will and enthusiasm to get things moving.

"The German experts on road re-surfacing were brought to Malta to act as consultants to the then Labour government for the rebuilding of roads. At the time we had very few local professionals who had expertise in this sector. So the German experts were also requested to assist the University of Malta introduce a road-engineering course for architects and civil engineers. As a result today we have a growing number of periti who have specialised in road engineering," said the Labour MP.

He also stated that the German experts other than preparing a national roads master plan also gave advice in the design and construction of roads. The roads department is not bound by the advice given by these experts, especially if such advice makes no sense in the local context. One such case is this insistence in narrowing our roads to make them safer from irresponsible drivers. This has meant creating a huge inconvenience for majority of drivers who act in a responsible manner rather than taking a tough line with irresponsible drivers.

Mr Buhagiar will again contest two districts. The seventh district, which was changed with the removal of Qrendi and the insertion of Mdina. What was previously the twelfth district (and which included Rabat) was reshuffled together with the eleventh district (which used to include Mosta) such that now there is a new eleventh district made up of Rabat, Imtarfa and Mosta. He does not think that the changes in the seventh district had any effect on his electoral chances but the reshuffled eleventh district is by and large new to him..

Regarding allegations he recently made in parliament, he said; "As far as I know the police are currently investigating the allegation I have made against a high official of the drainage department. With regards to the direct order given to the Danish consultants COWI, Minister Zammit Dimech replied that this amounted to a variation on their original contract of 1993. The original contract had a value of LM590,000 whilst the so-called variation is worth LM630,000. Variations normally do not exceed 20 per cent of the original contract sum. Otherwise they are treated as separate contracts. So Dr Zammit Dimech's feeble excuse is not legally correct and I insist that it amounted to a direct order."

Mr Buhagiar then said that he does not believe that there has been a change of political culture with people becoming less loyal to their party. Nor does he believe that people are getting fed up very quickly with both the Nationalists and the Labourites. "The people are fed up of political parties who promise manna from heaven before an election, say will recieve 100 million euros annually if we reactivate our EU application, and then promptly forget this promise after election." Mr Buhagiar said.

"I believe that the people understand the country’s problems much better than we give them credit for and they will vote for the party which will map out, in an honest and serious manner, the way forward to overcome our problems without depending on any EU or other miracle."

Regarding the present national cash flow problem, he said that this is directly linked with government’s method of taxation. "With government priding itself on collecting more in taxation effectively means less spending money in people’s pockets. This situation is made worse by government squandering the money it collects from our taxes in a hugely inefficient and unproductive manner. If people have less money to spend, business suffers. You get an economic slow down or even a recession which in turn scares people away from making any investment. The common foreign policy front has nothing to do with our current economic situation."

Mr Buhagiar strongly believes that if we can pool our resources, then, with sound and proper management, we can pull ourselves out of our dire situation. "However you need to have a party in government who has the political will and courage to take the necessary measures and not one which depends solely on the EU Father Christmas."

"Thanks to our short spell in government, we now know exactly what the country’s problems are. Up to 1996 the previous PN administration had managed to hide from view the very serious problems of our country. Today this is no longer possible. Since 1998 we have worked on solutions to the various problems and after the next election we will not have theunpleasant surprises we had in 1996. We will start implementing our solutions immediately".

He also said that all the hype surrounding the EU referendum has blown this issue out of all proportions. Whilst our future relationship with the EU is of importance there are other more important and urgent issues. We have lived with our present relationship with the EU for more than 30 years and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future but we cannot continue living in our degraded environment and with our economic and financial situation in such a huge mess. So in the sense of urgent national priorities the EU referendum is not so relevant.

He also believes that the vote in the EU referendum will have no bearing on Labour’s chances of winning the election. "Labour policies are not solely EU-based (as are the PN’s). "In any case a vote on any issue in a referendum has limited relevance to our electoral program. No political party is bound to include in its manifesto any issue already approved in a national referendum." Charles Buhagier said. "An electoral program maps out a series of initiatives aimed at making our society and our country better and able to meet the challenges of the future."