The French, again, show us the way

Time and time again, French politicians are showing not only us in Europe but the world in general what political accountability is all about. It is not as though France is corruption free, far from it, but when push comes to shove they have had the gumption to take the right decisions at the right times.

That more likely is because the French people demand more and better of their politicians.

On Tuesday star French Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot quit the Cabinet in disgust, saying he could lie to himself any longer, citing an ‘accumulation of disappointments’ and saying that felt ‘all alone’ in trying to advance green policies in the government.

The man could clearly no longer put his own reputation on the line for an administration that, he felt, was not in line with the environmental policies he wanted to forward. One must ask how many times over recent years were Maltese politicians in government forced into such a corner, yet did not take the noble route and instead chose to merely play along and dance to the wider government’s tune?

There are certain names that spring to mind, people who in previous incarnations would have given no quarter to some of the shenanigans they were perhaps not only forced to accept but that they actually had to promote?

Some of those Maltese politicians may argue that while they do not necessarily agree with all the government and its functionaries have been up to since taking the country’s helm in 2013, they feel their presence within government is more valuable than their presence without.

That, however, is arguable. There have been chances galore for government politicians to stand up and be counted. The Farrugias had done so when they moved over Labour to the fledgling Partit Demokratiku, a move that had caused two albeit temporary shockwaves.

But just imagine if a government minister were to just throw his or her arms up in disgust and quit. It is hard to imagine indeed, but falling on one’s sword in politics is sometimes a political necessity.

While Hulot apparently quit in a fury of angst, other French politicians have left for other reasons, reasons that Maltese politicians should take note of if they are to be worth their salt. There are two primary examples. When an anti-corruption association a few months back filed a complaint about a potential conflict of interest between the president’s chief of staff’s current role and his family links to Mediterranean Shipping Company, where he had worked as chief financial officer, he resigned on the spot.

The chief of staff had been appointed right after Macron’s election in 2017.

But on the slightest hint of possible corruption, French financial prosecutors had opened an investigation into whether the rules related to conflicts of interests while in a public position had been respected.

This was a mere whiff compared to the overbearing stench that has been hanging over Malta since our own Prime Minister’s chief of staffed and his lead minister were both exposed, in tandem, in the Panama Papers. But where Macron would suffer no such stench, our Prime Minister appears to bask in it. And while Macron knows full well that the French electorate would give no quarter to a whiff of corruption, Joseph Muscat’s political strength has actually increased without having taken any such action.

Just imagine Muscat’s electoral popularity had he taken action against the offending pair.

Earlier, during Macron’s 2017 election campaign four ministers all stepped down days after news broke that they could be facing investigations – not that they are being investigated, but that they could possibly be investigated.

The backdrop was French President Emmanuel Macron’s leading campaign pledge to put more ethics into politics, as was Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s lead campaign pledge back in 2013.

What a far cry all this is from the situation in Malta, where even ministers and top aides caught with the proverbial smoking gun in their hands cling fast to their positions, and where a Prime Minister defends them to the quick and even reappoints them after election.

We in Malta evidently have a long, long way to go if we are to ever reach France’s standards of political accountability. But that does not mean we cannot get there, it’s just that enough of us citizens need to be seen demanding it.