Abela’s bluff on OECD membership

In September 2023, Newsbook reported that Foreign Minister Ian Borg held a meeting with the secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Mathias Cormann, at the organisation’s Paris headquarters since Malta was seeking to step up its efforts to join the organisation.

A statement issued by the ministry said that Borg communicated the government’s plans to submit an accession letter for consideration by the OECD’s ministerial council. Borg was quoted saying that the Maltese government looked forward to starting discussions on terms, conditions and processes for Malta’s possible accession to the OECD.

In November 2023 Ian Borg reaffirmed that Malta would be seeking membership of the OECD in the coming months. This time he did this in the Maltese parliament. In fact, according to Times of Malta, Borg addressed parliament to declare that the government was to formally ask to join the OECD soon.

Why was Malta so keen to become a member of OECD? The answer is to be found in the humiliation our country was subjected to after former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat put his chief of staff, Keith Schembri, who stands accused with several criminal acts, in charge of all things happening in Malta. In collusion with high-ranking police officers like Silvio Valletta and Ian Abdilla, the former head of the Financial Crimes Investigation Department (FCID), and with shady businesspeople like Yorgen Fenech, Paul Apap Bologna, Armin Ernst, Ram Tumuluri, Shaquat Ali and others, Schembri conducted our country’s major financial deals from his Castille office—similar to how mafia bosses run their criminal organisations from Palermo or Reggio Calabria.

Keith Schembri’s criminal behaviour cost Joseph Muscat the successorship of the EU Council of Ministers presidency, in replacement of Donald Tusk. German Chancellor Angela Merkel made sure to phone up all EU leaders to tell them that Muscat was out because of his association with Schembri.

The unfortunate thing is that all of us Maltese were made to pay the price for Schembri’s behaviour and that of his criminal associates. Daphne Caruana Galizia paid with her life in 2017. In June 2021, the rest of us all had to witness our country being put on the FATF grey list. At this point, it was game over for all those Maltese governments and finance ministers who had played about with the laws governing tax avoidance and tax evasion. In October 2021, Malta’s newly appointed Finance Minister Clyde Caruana was subjected to the humiliation of having a 15% minimum tax on foreign companies—many of whom had been paying an effective tax rate of only 5%—imposed upon our country by the OECD. This commitment has not yet been fulfilled since Malta requested an exemption for a few years.

Caruana tried to sweeten the pill by stating that “every country is bowing its head to the agreement”.

In reality, what was happening was that OECD was now imposing harsh financial decisions on Malta, without our country being able to influence decisions, since it was not a member of the organisation. The government was so desperate to become a member of the organisation that electoral promise number 906 in the PL’s 2022 electoral manifesto reads: ‘In the next legislature our country will apply to become a full member of the OECD. This would give Malta a seat at the table where policy decisions impacting the most developed countries are taken. As a member of the OECD, our country will commit itself to follow the best practice in economic and social governance.’

In February 2024, Robert Abela stepped up the ante, since in his meeting with the foreign ambassadors accredited to Malta, he declared that “Malta will be formally applying to join the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development”. He had said Malta’s enrolment in the OECD will not only increase the country’s contribution on international policy, but also helps in “pushing the interests of small states”.

Over 15 months have passed since Abela’s pompous declaration. And, as with many other declarations by the prime minister, it is all empty blabber and colourful bluff.

In fact, I have just checked on the state of Malta’s OECD application and I have found out that Malta never applied for OECD membership. While Malta has expressed its 2023/24 interest in applying, as of May 2025, Malta has not yet applied. In order to be part of the OECD, a country must have a structured form of co-operation and enhanced participation in OECD bodies and adherence to OECD legal instruments. In order to attain this aim, Malta would be expected to submit an action plan. To date this has not been presented. What is the status of this plan? When does Malta plan to finalise and submit such an action plan?

One final thing. Any OECD member country could veto Malta’s application. Those are the rules.

Would Israel have vetoed Malta’s eventual application had Abela denounced the rogue drone attack on the ship Conscience just off Hurd’s Bank?

Are there any problems with other countries? Is this the reason why, despite the empty promises, Robert Abela has not yet submitted Malta’s application? Of course, with a prime minister who excels in hiding things from the people, do not expect any answers.