The world is not on holiday | Carmelo Abela

Many of us usually look forward to the summer season because it gives us the chance to spend more time with our relatives and also go on a holiday.

But as we switch off many things are happening around us. In Malta, the summer has not been so quiet and with many things going on not everything has been negative as some mongers would have us believe.

A lot is going on inside the Labour Party as well. We, the party activists and delegates, should not be afraid of change. Change is good because it helps us to improve ourselves and ultimately it will also benefit the country. Our political adversaries will try to portray such change negatively but these same adversaries will do better to look at what is happening or not happening in their own party.

The Labour Party is still the party of hope. It harbours hope for a better future; hope to achieve more and better; hope for better governance; hope for the middle class; hope for the most needy and vulnerable; hope for a better environment; hope for more discipline; hope for a better quality of life at all levels and for all people.

But enough said about us, at least for today. I wish to look at the international scene.

It seems the EU institutions are on holiday. It is true that the EU is in transition mode after the June European Parliament elections. The new European Commission still needs to take shape and Council meetings do happen but with no significant or effective results. 

All this is happening in a scenario where the Russian war on Ukraine still goes on and where the escalating situation in the Middle East could possibly and dangerously develop into a wider conflict. Across the Atlantic, the United States is immersed in an abrasive presidential campaign, where the very essence of democracy could actually be challenged.

Moreover, on what appears to be high level diplomatic meetings, bilateral consultations are taking place among powerful countries. Many, even in the so-called ‘west’ or ‘democratic countries’, look at these meetings with suspicion. This, not to mention the conflicts in different regions, especially in Africa, migratory flows and other issues that are ongoing with no sign of breakthrough. 

The world is clearly not on holiday. This leads me to a point that I have raised on other occasions - the lack of world leaders and leadership to tackle most of these issues.

Global institutions together with regional ones, look weak and ineffective in dealing with all or even some of these challenges. This does not bode well for mankind. We need to strive for a better world, but it appears that the opposite is happening.

We Maltese cannot be short sighted and argue that what happens elsewhere does not affect us or is not of interest to us. Those who think in such a way are naive and do not understand that we are interconnected globally and that whatever happens elsewhere could impact us.

I want to believe, and I am still hopeful, that if world leaders have the courage, the will and commitment to start working for the greater good, the world could be a better place. Maybe then, we, the people living on this planet, can really take a holiday without fearing what is happening around us.

Carmelo Abela is a Labour MP and former foreign minister