And then when I said that Louis Grech is too old, too ill and too lazy to cope, people sniped at me. But I was right.
Louis Grech: I told you there was no way on earth he was ever going to be fit for the purpose of government, and you didn’t believe me. Well, tough – for us all.
Louis Grech, for all his other charming virtues, should have been put out to pasture with his best friend Karmenu Vella, who is deteriorating so fast that the fact can’t be ignored any longer. Instead he was put into power, and what’s worse, in the position of deputy prime minister and minister for Europe, and over and above that, given responsibility for what should be the prime minister’s duty: making sure the Labour Party’s electoral programme is implemented.
A man doesn’t become fit for the purpose of government just because lots of older ladies fancy him and men enjoy talking to him at parties.
I sometimes think that the brains of Maltese people are deliberately addled at birth. I used to enjoy speaking to Grech, but to do that I had to build a wall round the fact that he admired Mintoff and stood for him, and that became increasingly difficult to do when he recommenced his active involvement in partisan Labour politics.
I would never have considered voting for him, certainly not even in the European Parliament elections. Even just the thought of voting for a Mintoffian is repugnant, and I do not reason illogically – voting for people because they’re amusing to speak to at supper.
Now today’s news makes it obvious, in a way that even his greatest admirers can’t ignore, that Louis Grech isn’t coping and that he doesn’t know what’s going on under his watch. He hasn’t even been able to appoint (or retain from the previous administration) advisers who are up to the job of briefing him properly.
Last Monday he issued a statement saying that there has been no fresh EC action against Malta since the Labour government came into office. That statement alone was daft enough: ‘100 days without EC action’.
But when it turns out to be wrong – The Times of Malta this morning broke the story that there have been two new infringement procedures since then – it’s catastrophic in what it says about Grech’s competence, that of his advisers, and certainly that of the prime minister who put him there.
Didn’t anybody in that office even bother to do the obvious and ring Marlene Bonnici, the Permanent Representative in Brussels and a committed Labour supporter, for the facts – even though, as the Ministry for Europe, they should have known them themselves?
Please don’t tell me that they they, and she didn’t know. That would be just too much.
The Times of Malta reports:
Ministry ‘didn’t know’ of EC action
The ministry responsible for EU affairs seems to be unaware of two new infringement procedures opened by the European Commission against Malta in May.
In a statement issued by the Department of Information on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech said the Commission had not taken any legal action against Malta since Labour came into power in March.
Stating that, over the past three months, the Commission had closed six infringement procedures against the island, the statement noted that, further to these closures, “the Commission has not taken action against Malta since March”.
“This significant accomplishment reflects the commitment of the Government in ensuring the proper transposition and application of EU law,” it said.
EC sources said that, while it was true that Brussels had closed six infringement procedures against Malta over the past three months, in May it opened two new procedures against the island.
On another note, it appears that Ivan Camilleri, who wrote this story and also the one on Franco Mercieca’s work in private clinics, is going out of his way to prove something.
After helping to put this sorry lot into power where they can do maximum damage, by ripping up his vote instead of voting PN, because his wife didn’t get the job she wants (and actually boasting about this brave and heroic gesture, which he described as fully justified), he is hounding them with his notebook, pencil and recording devices.
Better late than never – but as they say in Malta’s patois: ‘Issa fatta la zorba’.
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http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130626/local/Ministry-didn-t-know-of-EC-action.475410
Wouldn’t this be a resignation matter in any sane country?
I think it would. But, then again, most of the government should have resigned by now if we keep to that standard.
They will not resign.
On the other hand, they are now resigned to the fact that the PL in government is not competent for the job and that bad decisions will be the norm rather than the exception.
The first very bad decision was to appoint someone with little or no knowledge of the Civil Service as its head. (Apart from that, he does not seem to be a particularly bright individual.) Most of his time is spent trying to understand what’s it’s all about.
The second very bad decision was to force all permanent secretaries to resign. (Government redeemed itself a little by reappointing two of them). By removing most of them at one go, it was impossible to maintain the momentum of the past legislature because the information, knowledge and experience of key people was lost overnight.
Not that shocked, really. Switchers must be feeling pretty daft by now.
Quite the cheek they have too:
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-06-26/news/labour-mp-asks-pn-to-apologise-for-raising-energy-tariffs-1916207105/
What else do they want an apology for? For getting Malta into the EU? For allowing the economy to stay afloat while larger ones floundered?
The PN should just totally ignore this news item.
Labour MP Silvio Schembri was welcomed by a not very complementary comment – ‘BUZZ OFF MORON’ – in the on-line edition of The Malta Independent.
Three short words, but they say so much – the lot, in fact.
His mother should apologise for shagging his father.
What amateurs!
Totally disgraceful. It is being proven with every passing day that all the preparation went into the electoral campaign, but no preparation whatsoever for governing the country.
Not that it comes as any surprise. To me it was obvious from the start, my surprise is still the thousands having been fooled.
Maybe Joseph Muscat and Keith Scehmbri will give Ivan Camilleri’s wife the job she wanted.
They will bag Ivan just like they did to Lou.
Is Marlene Bonnici a Labour supporter? If that’s true my admiration to the last PN government will reach another level.
[Daphne – Yes, Labour background through and through. Why do you think Labour didn’t object to her, and have left her in situ? They’ve removed others with merit and it wouldn’t have stopped them removing her too.]
Marlene Bonnici is a very capable woman and during the past legislature she held a very high position in government administration. When RCC was forced to resign from his position as Permanent Representative in Brussels, she was his natural successor and I guess Dr Gonzi recognized her merits and promoted her. He didn’t pass her over because she is a Labour supporter.
Which brings me to this sort of government we have now. In the first days of this government, when our dear PM took the decision to keep keep Marlene Bonnici on, I thought, oh well, it’s not all doom ‘n gloom, this government seems to be practising its mantras on meritocracy.
Of course, at the time I also thought that Marlene was a Nationalist. Dear God I’m so angry at myself.
I’m cursing myself for ever doubting Dr Gonzi’s government as being meritocratic. I’m also cursing Labour for ever putting me in doubt and making me vote PN in a halfhearted manner.
Dear God, whatever election is next I will gladly vote PN with all my heart.
So Kurt the coconut was right. There was action in the first 100 days.