Full Monti

Properly run, Western democracies have proven over the decades to be a catalyst for economic growth, prosperity, stability and peace. Once democracy is well established, the spectres of dictatorship and human rights abuse virtually never reappear. However, one would be blind not to note that the formation of two non-elected technical governments in our closest European neighbours in the last few days, coupled with Dr Gonzi's leaked lamentations of his inability to nominate technocrats on his cabinet, have highlighted flaws in European-style democracy.

One of the imperfections in our type of government lies with the inherent selfishness and/or short-sightedness of the electorate. As happened in the economies of Italy and Greece, subsequent governments, the electorate, as well as workers prefer short-term economic benefits over long-term prosperity. Individuals choose to opt for more money in their pockets in the short term by not paying tax, unions oppose redundancies in insolvent parastatal companies and professions with monopolies fight hard to retain the status quo.

Although the majority of politicians have a deep desire for their country to prosper, everyone is aware of the electorate's myopic vision, and seeing as no politician or political party wants to be a five-year wonder, they all dance to the electorate's tune.

Another flaw in democratic governing is that while dictatorships govern by fear and oppression, democracies depend on marketing and persuasion. Crafty, good looking politicians with the gift of the gab have a definite one up on their goofy looking, poorly dressed, stammering counterparts notwithstanding the fact that the former might be incompetent and corrupt while the latter honest and effective. We have all learnt that all that glitters is not gold, but one should also add that if it stinks it is probably shit. The Italians chose the glittering stuff even though it stank. A prime minister who risks spending his retirement in Regina Coeli for embezzlement, fraud and sexual abuse clearly does not have the moral fibre to put the future of his country first.

Thankfully, our country is not plagued with a crippling amount of foreign debt, meaning that it is highly unlikely that the European Commission will intervene in our affairs and impose a technocratic government upon us. However, playing to the tune of the electorate has led government after government, leader of the opposition after the other, to ignore long term problems hampering our growth. To take two examples - our ever increasing non-sustainable health care expenditure and our poorly funded and underperforming educational system are temples to the electorate's myopic vision. Is it Gonzi or Muscat's fault that any proposal for radical change in the funding for education or health means they can kiss Castille goodbye?

Let's imagine, just for a moment, that Maltese people stop lending the government money and we end up in our neighbours' unenviable position. The European Commission steps in to bail us out, on condition that a team of technocrats replace the current cabinet...

Well, I for one would not be surprised should this result in a complete re-haul of education spending were someone from University be made a minister for education. He or she would have no election to face in a few years' time. Incentives for students to continue in their education would of course remain, however they would be geared towards a first class education aimed at expanding our country's potential. Families with means to support their children's education would be rewarded with a well-funded University, and not with pocket money for their children. At the primary and secondary levels, independent and church schools have already shown themselves to be less costly than State schools. Asking the private sector to manage government schools, with well-defined academic targets, would definitely cut costs for government and improve educational indices.

Our top-heavy health service is seriously inefficient. A public health doctor put into an unelected health minister post would not have to re-invent the wheel. He would not bat an eyelid at introducing token €1 charges for prescriptions or glorified taxi services (i.e. non-urgent ambulances). The mantra "prevention is better than cure" has been drilled into our brain since we were toddlers, however "prevention" does not get politicians any votes while expensive "cures" do. For some inexplicable reason, the government health service directs anyone with even the mildest of asthma, diabetes, or hypertension to the "state-of-the-art" Mater Dei just for a few euros a month of medications. A good partnership between private family practitioners and the government might cost the public coffers a bit of money, but the money saved in the future (read: beyond the next election) would guarantee long-term sustainability.

Our country does not, and probably will never need, a Mario Monti style government. However, all political parties should unite behind a series of specialists who would give advice, un-tinted by blue or red. There are government (or opposition) policies which are totally at odds with the consensus amongst specialists in the field. Unless both political parties start fighting for a better future instead fighting for five years in Castille, we will be stuck in this morass of mediocrity forever.