Tone deaf, out of touch and always a step too late

This column first appeared in Malta Today

There probably could not be a worse time for local politicians to be contesting an election campaign with everything that is happening in the Ukraine.

For, while they are trying to keep the focus on Malta’s domestic policies, our attention, like that of most of the world, is focussed on the worrying situation which is unfolding elsewhere in real time. Meanwhile, Bernard Grech and Robert Abela are desperately trying to whip up voter enthusiasm by promising us everything they can think of, in what is starting to feel like a bizarre game of oneupmanship (“anything you can do, I can do better”). I think that by now they have pretty much covered all the bases – every demographic in every scenario can just sit back and relax, ‘coz those cheques and freebies are going to keep on coming.

The message this is sending to the country, of course, could not be more wrong. They are basically telling us, why work and study for what you want in life when there is going to be a constant injection of hand outs irrespective of merit? You’ve lost your job? Don’t worry, Bernard has promised you a minimum wage for a year. You drop out of higher education? Don’t worry, Robert says you can keep your student grant anyway. I don’t mind my taxes going to those who are truly in need, and I am a firm believer in having a strong welfare structure, but these electoral promises are the pits. The two parties are reminding me of two indulgent, laissez-faire parents who work all day and party all night, and then throw money at their (neglected but spoiled) children to keep them quiet and out of their hair.

What we are watching on the news could not provide a greater contrast and is bringing into sharp relief just how lacking we are in true leadership. So far, Robert Abela has failed to demonstrate real statesmanlike qualities in the way he has responded to the Ukrainian crisis because he always seems out of touch and a step too late. More damningly, he has said things which are completely tone deaf to the situation which illustrates an inability to read the room.

Ordinary people were already attune to the gravity of the situation and what it means in democratic terms, not just for the Ukraine, but for the rest of Europe and yet one of Abela’s first statements just a day after the invasion was that, “there will be no major impact on the Maltese economy.” Now I know that many Maltese tend to only think of themselves and their pockets, but this attitude should not really be perpetuated by the Prime Minister. Official statements and the choice of words matter at times like this and mentioning the economy right off the bat showed a rather crass indifference to the real human suffering of the Ukrainians. What I expect from a PM during such a humanitarian crisis is to encourage the nation to be altruistic and compassionate – rather than making it about “us” even as we watch a country being bombed.

Thankfully, for once, public sentiment had already taken on a life of its own. From what I could tell, the zeitgeist was on a more humane wavelength and organisations and individuals immediately started asking, “how can we help?” I have rarely seen volunteers and resources mobilise so quickly and at the time of writing they have already been overwhelmed with material donations for the refugees fleeing their war-torn country. They are now asking people to donate money instead as sorting through everything is proving to be a mammoth task.

Living in his own parallel universe, the Prime Minister was also dragging his feet on other more urgent matters. As other European countries immediately announced that they would allow refugees to enter their countries with no restrictions, Malta only removed Ukraine from the red list on Tuesday, but said that Ukrainians would still have to stay at a quarantine hotel at their own expense. This appalling decision by the Malta Tourism Authority beggared belief and was met by public opprobrium. Thankfully, the Foreign Affairs Minister Evarist Bartolo stepped in and made it clear that, “At the Foreign Ministry we have a special fund to pay the bill for those who have to quarantine in a hotel. These are people fleeing from a cruel war.” The next day, the MHRA said it would waive any fees and the issue was resolved. But why did it have to take so long when Abela could have simply said, “no quarantine fees for refugees”? After all, he seems to be finding it quite easy to throw money around to get re-elected.

On his part, Bernard Grech rightly called for the Government to stop selling passports to Russians in the light of the sanctions which have been imposed. Personally, I have never agreed with the IIP scheme, irrespective of nationality, but I find it significant that the PN has never called for the Citizenship by Investment scheme to be scrapped completely. It is not too difficult to understand why: just consider all the professionals and industries which have raked it in by offering ancillary services to all those who want to buy a Maltese passport. Many a moral high ground and pious beating of chests have fallen by the wayside at the flashing of all that lucre and you can be sure that some of them even vote PN.

In the midst of all this political rhetoric to score points with his supporters, however, Grech also needs to tread carefully. Surely he must realise that we have a large, very legitimate Russian community here, including children born of mixed marriages? The last thing we need is to stir up xenophobia against yet another group of people.

After initially resisting the calls to stop selling Maltese (EU) citizenship to Russians, Abela finally caved in and announced that yes, they would be stopped. But again, always a step too late, and always after having to be pressured to do so. The reasons given always come back to, you guessed it, the economy and money. Russian applicants currently account for around one quarter of those who bought a Maltese passport. Considering that Abela is promising the moon in his electoral campaign, it is not surprising that the goose which laid the golden egg are the golden passports.

While on the subject of Russian money, however, let us leave aside the temptation to naval gaze and focus only on Malta, which often ends up being bashed so mercilessly by those who claim to love it so much. I think it is only fair to put all this in perspective and take a look at how the dubious wealth of Russian oligarchs infiltrated almost every country in the West. This class of businessmen with their super yachts floating on the seven seas amassed their billions through their Kremlin connections when the former Soviet Union’s assets were divided up. Even though they have covered their tracks all these years through layers of shell companies, the imposition of sanctions is flushing out just where the money had been diverted. Basically, there are Russian interests and assets everywhere, and up until the invasion, no one seemed to mind.

Of course, I am not by any means justifying the fact that Malta went down this route as well – I have always argued that we were much better off as a nation without all this flashy wealth which has just snowballed into more unbridled greed – but I also cannot take the hypocrisy of those who are always pointing their fingers at our island. On Thursday, a super yacht was seized in France belonging to Igor Sechin, CEO of Russian state-controlled oil giant Rosneft, which is on the EU and US sanctions list. So, when a super yacht owned by billionaire Maxim Shubarev, who has a Maltese passport, berthed in Malta on Friday, all hell broke loose. But there was one important, additional detail…according to reports, neither Shubarev or Setl Group feature on the current sanctions list. So on what pretext could the Maltese Government have seized his yacht?

In the meantime, a CNN report pointed out that “…more than a dozen yachts owned by Russian oligarchs are spread out across the world, from the crystal waters of Antigua to ports in Barcelona and Hamburg to atolls in the Maldives and Seychelles. “

This week, Roman Abromavich announced he is selling Chelsea football club which he has owned since 2003. Meanwhile, a TikTok video shows a man walking towards an imposing residence in London where he affixed one of those blue signs usually reserved for stately homes. It reads: “Billionaire Putin Crony Roman Abromavich lives here. It’s worth £150 billion but the government won’t seize it.”

Billionaire Mikhail Fridman is a shareholder in the company that owns, among other things, Holland & Barrett, and was forced to step down from the board after his name appeared on the sanctions list.

And the financial sanctions imposed by the US have now revealed that two Kremlin-backed banks were doing business in the US. Now their access to the US financial system has been cut off, and their assets under American jurisdiction have been frozen.

It’s obvious that shady Russian money was, and is, everywhere and up until Putin set his beady eyes on the Ukraine, no one really cared or was particularly bothered about where it came from.