Vote distancing - Alfred Sant

This week it is planned that the European Parliament will be voting in plenary, but at a distance. MEPs are expected, as much as possible, not to travel and to vote while remaining in their own country. Only those living in Brussels or close to it will physically attend the session, so that they can address the plenary in person. Before September for sure, no sessions will be held in Strasbourg.

This is a much better arrangement than the one for the last plenary at which deputies were expected to attend over two days of speechifying but no voting. To get the Parliament to assemble like that was a stupid decision which could have given rise to public health complications; perhaps they did arise.

One still needs to see how the new procedure will function, especially as apparently, much still needs to be done for the Parliament to operate an adequate electronic system catering for 700 MEPs and over. Nor can one reckon that the new arrangements will only need to apply for a short period. There is no indication yet as to how long the pandemic could remain in force.

Helicopter money

The economic dilemma governments, including ours, face is that as a result of the corona crisis, whole sectors will come to a total standstill: with no sales and no income. It’s the case in tourism, but not only. And again, there is no idea as to how long this situation is going to last.

Many families could end up with no income at all.

Unsurprisingly, the proposal has again surfaced to give grants to all citizens across the board, so they have money to spend. Such funds have been called helicopter money. When some years ago, the proposal was first made, at the height of the eurozone crisis, it was strongly opposed on the grounds that it would undermine the integrity of the currency.

It is clear that the proposal has its “dangers”. Historically there is no precedent for it (unless perhaps when armies would conquer cities and soldiers would be given the go-ahead to sack the place).

However the current situation in Europe (as well as in the rest of the world after all) is also without precedent.

Print media

With time, the position of the print media in Malta seems to be getting more difficult. It’s strange that there has been no discussion at all about the problem.

While sales of local newspapers have been constantly in decline, all papers are now getting printed in the same establishment. Following the closure of the GWU and PN printing presses, even that of “The Times” which used to be considered as the most modern, stopped newsprinting.

This makes economic sense, even though when printing papers in Malta, given the low sales volume, unit production costs will always remain higher than abroad.

Then there is also the problem of what happens when the printing press now being used by all, seizes up. All newspapers either reach the shops late or fail to appear. Which likely pushes readers further away.

Will the transfer to online be really viable? There still must be some doubts about that.

Political work

That Julia Farrugia Portelli as a minister and other MPs were caught in the quarantine net made necessary by the Coronavirus pandemic, is unsurprising. The work of politicians is precisely that of meeting people to listen, talk, explain, learn.

The same holds for priests and doctors, and often for police and I think journalists as well.

If a politician stops meeting people, how will he/she know how matters stand? By consulting the research studies about public opinion carried out by academics and specialists in marketing agencies?

All similar professions entail duties and burdens for their members that by definition will eventually have an impact on their personal lives.

One can only wish that for Julia and other MPs in her position, the period of precautionary “quarantine” (which is what it is) will also provide some rest as well as the opportunity to tool up better for their reappearance, at a time when hopefully, the Coronavirus challenge is being rolled back.

Government doing well

There’s nothing wrong in these strange times for one to repeat this conclusion:

The government is proceeding well as it seeks to control the disease that has landed in Malta, like it has done in all of Europe and the US.

The challenge is a tough one. It is not easy to balance the impact on citizens’ health triggered by a new disease which still carries many unknown features, with the economic effects that measures to control it are bound to have.

Clearly, one has to decide. And this is being done, with care, with a clear understanding of what the options – all tough – amount to, and with lucidity.

I believe the measures being taken run a very good chance of success. They require the cooperation of the whole mass of citzens. It seems as if this is forthcoming. May it continue to be so.

I thought this was an opportunity to listen once again to Mahler’s symphonies from beginning to end

Mahler

As with others, one keeps home as much as possible, especially if one is classified among the elederly.

So, what does one do to stay on the ball?

I thought this was an opportunity to listen once again to Mahler’s symphonies from beginning to end. After all, according to Thomas Mann and Visconti in “Death in Venice”, Mahler had given up on life when he went to that city to spend some time by himself. He died there when a cholera epidemic reached the place during his stay.

After all, a period of time spent far from the madding crowd of our daily routine has the benefit of allowing one to revisit what one used to like in the past, but had then allowed to fade in one’s memory.

In this case: Mahler’s symphony number nine, with its cathedral like structure. Over the years, I got to prefer number 6, the “tragic”. But now that I’ve been through the three of them more than once, as well as the rest of their “fellows” – in the version I had always known, that recorded many years ago by Rafael Kubelik and the Berlin Philharmonic – I would vote for number eight, “of the thousand”.

If this Coronavirus epidemic were not so troublesome, I could find consolation in the opportunity it has given me to once again consult Mahler’s symphonies.