Out with the old and in with the new
2016
After all the revelry and parties are over, we awake to a new year. The year 2016. Last year was an eventful one, both on the local scene as well as the rest of the world. The harbinger of what was to come was the brutal slaying of journalists at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris in January 2015. France would suffer further attacks as Syria continued to implode and terror extended its dark tentacles into Europe. We saw nearly one million refugees on an exodus to Europe. Sadly it took the heartbreaking image of a young Kurdish boy lying on a beach to shock Europe into action. In a strange twist, Malta barely took any migrants last year as the EU’s Frontex operation picked up most of those who set off from Libya. Most were taken in by Italy, giving rise to questions on a deal struck between Prime Ministers Joseph Muscat and Matteo Renzi.
But Libya’s security has broken down as IS tries to establish a presence there and the focus went to the Balkan and Turkish routes as desperate people tried to make the crossing from the Turkish mainland to Greek islands.
Libya has finally signed a unity government deal, and one hopes that it will bring about a much needed push to root out extremists who have taken over a number of towns. The whole issue led to Malta hosting the Valletta summit on migration, which saw EU leaders gather in Malta to find a solution to the issue. The issue was followed up in the subsequent CHOGM heads of state meeting. Did it solve anything? Not completely, no. But it certainly did put the issue up for discussion. Then came a night which will live in infamy. On 13 November, a bunch of supposed jihadists took to the streets of Paris again, killing 130 people as different cells members went on rampages with assault rifles and suicide belts.
On a local level, corruption and wheeling and dealing seemed to take centre stage. A number of government deals were simply not on. The Gaffarena deal, the Higher Education deal at Żonqor, Cafe Premier and many others were simply out of order and not done in what is supposed to be a developed European Union member state.
Politicians are suffering in the trust ratings as a result, but that could also have something to the general public finally being exposed to their antics in parliament. The new parliament building’s streaming service has shown people how our politicians behave, and the general consensus seems to be ‘not very well’. While the Paris COP 21 summit did jog the world into motion on climate change, in Malta, our biggest loser seems to have been the environment. Earlier this year, we had the chance to abolish Spring hunting. Yet a combination of slick campaigning by the pro-hunting lobby and voter lethargy allow the practice to continue. In addition, we saw the deal which saw ODZ land in Żonqor transferred to an investor who will build a Higher Education Institute there. Land is being swallowed up, traffic pollution continues to clog our lungs and the overall picture of our overall health is not exactly rosy.
But there have been high points too. We saw the face of Pluto, a deal was signed at the Climate Change Summit, the world is investing in the Green economy, Ebola was beaten, and people showed their humanity in helping immigrants in distress.
For Malta, the economy was good, tourist levels continue to boom and people do have more money to spend. 2015 was definitely not a quiet year. Let us hope that this new year, this 2016, will have better things in store.