Dr. Alfred Sant
Knowingly or not, Mark Laurence Zammit is conducting what in the realm of academic research is referred to as oral history.
The current sequence of interviewing past prime ministers to revisit their personal and political experiences is indeed doing just that. The last episode of the weekly programme ‘L-Erbgħa fost ilĠimgħa’ took on Dr. Alfred Sant – a person who certainly needs no introduction. My contribution here is to take on a matter or two discussed in that interview and, whilst being critical as a fellow academic, possibly, trigger off further debate about them.
In revisiting the build up to the 1996 general election, Dr. Alfred Sant himself referred to the Labour Party pulling on the PN’s introduction of VAT as an ideal candidate to win that election by offering an alternative, the defunct Customs and Excise Tax. Without any inhibitions Dr. Sant admitted that what had been suggested as an alternative, whilst being conceptually correct, was not implemented rightly. Taking on the argument of being conceptually correct, Dr. Sant explained in that interview that the introduction of VAT does not ‘fit into the profile of Malta’ – given it is more tilted towards being a service based economy. That explanation rekindled, in my mind, the academic debate as to whether or not adopting International Accounting Standards way back in 1995 was the right thing to do or not.
One has to keep in mind that having been ruled by the British for nearly 180 years, Malta imported its accounting model, and possibly the notion of ‘true and fair’ does not fit into the cultural attributes of Maltese society. Maybe, we would have been better off with the French ‘Plan Comptable Gènèral’ – A General Accounting Plan. In hindsight, if the British did not take over Malta, then the French would have remained here and possibly we would have been better off from an accounting point of view, apart from possibly writing this contribution in French!
Yet, it is sometimes difficult to actually control your destiny. Whilst respecting his opinion that Malta would have fared better through a free trade partnership with the EU, I still feel that overall our country has benefitted thus far from full membership, notwithstanding that I too voted against. Though he did not! Instead clinging onto his voting document as an abstention – emulating the interpretation of the 1956 Integration Referendum result!
Surely, you cannot cherry pick what is suitable to you and discard what is not. The recent Brexit process has clearly shown just that and Britain is starting to feel the brunt of that decision. It is quite likely that there will be a meltdown of the United Kingdom. It is already being touted that Scotland will seek another referendum for independence so as to be able to join the EU. Also, given the recent escalation of violence in Northern Ireland, a reunification of Ireland is on the radar too. On an economic front, a recent statistic in the international press shows that around €1 trillion of assets have left the City of London and landed on mainland Europe. Only time will tell if Boris Johnson will be relegated to the history books not as the man freeing the UK, but as the prime minister who actually destroyed it.
As the world continues to address the current pandemic both economically as well as epidemiologically, we can safely say that we are better off being part of the bloc. Whilst commending our health services for the way they handled the matter, I cannot imagine what the economic situation would have been if we weren’t part of the EU in the current moment. I still remember in the not too distant past Matteo Salvini, then MEP and Italian Deputy Prime Minister up to September 2019, actively engaged in vying his fellow citizens to follow suit like the UK i.e. leaving the EU! Since the Covid-19 breakout he has toned down such calls as his home country comes to terms with the economic fallout of Covid-19. Any further comments would be futile.
It is already being touted that Scotland will seek another referendum for independence so as to be able to join the EU.