The Economist - USA (2019-11-30)

48 Europe The EconomistNovember 30th 2019

T

he resilienceof Joseph Muscat’s La-

bour government has been a wonder to

behold. For six years, fortified by the sup-

port that comes with rapid economic

growth (Malta’s gdprose by 6.8% in 2018), it

has withstood sleaze allegations that

would have toppled other administrations.

But on November 26th the government

reeled. One of his ministers, Konrad Mizzi,

resigned. Another, Chris Cardona, said he

was “suspending himself”. Hours earlier,

Mr Muscat’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri,

stepped down. That was hardly surprising:

Mr Schembri had been interrogated by po-

lice investigating a murder. He is now be-

lieved to be under arrest. Mr Cardona had

also been questioned in connection with

the case. Both deny any wrongdoing.

The murder victim was a journalist,

Daphne Caruana Galizia, killed by a car

bomb in 2017. Her blog was the source of

many of the corruption allegations. One

was that Mr Schembri and Mr Mizzi had

Panama-registered companies and trusts

in New Zealand which, Ms Caruana Galizia

reported and they denied, had received

kickbacks from Russians in return for Mal-

tese passports. She also claimed the politi-

cians’ firms were due to receive payments

from a Dubai-registered company, 17 Black.

Ms Caruana Galizia died before discover-

ing who was behind 17 Black, but last year a

journalists’ collective set up to continue

her work reported that the owner was one

of Malta’s richest men, Yorgen Fenech, who

has interests in gaming, property and ener-

gy. Mr Mizzi and Mr Schembri deny any

connection to him or to 17 Black.

Three men have been arrested and

charged with Ms Caruana Galizia’s murder.

Few in Malta believe they were more than

hired assassins. Who, if anyone, ordered

her killing remains unknown. Earlier this

month, however, police investigating a

separate case arrested a 41-year-old taxi

driver, Melvin Theuma, who offered infor-

mation on the murder in exchange for a

pardon. On November 19th the pardon was

approved on condition he supplied evi-

dence to police. The next day, Mr Fenech

was arrested as he headed out to sea on his

yacht. He has been given bail, but is under

24-hour police surveillance.

In a blog post Ms Caruana Galizia’s son,

Paul, said his mother had been investigat-

ing possible links between Mr Fenech, the

two politicians and a gas-supply agree-

ment with Azerbaijan when she died. It was

to be “my mother’s next big story”, he

wrote.“Weeksbeforeshewaskilled,she

beganreceivingthousandsofinternaldoc-

umentsfromFenech’s energy company,

Electrogas.” Police had until November

29thtobringchargesagainstMrFenech.

Recenteventshavestirredplentyofan-

gerinMalta.Followingtheresignations,

therewerechaoticscenesinparliamentas

oppositionlawmakerstauntedLabourmps

with cries of “robbers” and “Mafia”. A

crowdpeltedthedeputyprime minister

witheggsandcoinsasheleftthebuilding.

WhetherthefurywillbringdownMrMus-

catremainsuncertain.OnNovember25th

hecalleda meetingofhisparliamentari-

ans.Theygavehimtheirunanimousback-

ing.Buta statementaddedcrypticallythat

themeetingwas“partofa processthatwill

continueandleadtodecisions”. 7

Malta’s government is battered by

murder investigations

Malta

Daphne’s shadow

Butwillitbedone?

I

t has notbeen the easiest of starts for

Ursula von der Leyen. In July the eu’s gov-

ernment heads alighted on the former Ger-

man defence minister as their surprise

choice to run the European Commission,

Brussels’s largest institution. She immedi-

ately suffered a series of reverses. The

European Parliament approved her candi-

dacy by the slimmest of margins. Of 26 pro-

posed commissioners—one from each eu

member government except for Britain,

which refused to make a nomination de-

spite having failed to Brexit—three were re-

jected. But on November 27th the parlia-

ment nodded through Ms von der Leyen’s

commission by 461 votes to 157. It will take

office on December 1st, one month later

than planned.

The commission is an odd hybrid of ex-

ecutive, civil service and watchdog. It has

extensive powers in some areas, such as

competition and product regulation, but

few in others. Ms von der Leyen will over-

see the work of 32,000 civil servants from

her office on the 13th floor of the Berlay-

mont building in Brussels, which the hard-

working president has also converted into

a small flat. In one sense she arrives at a

more propitious moment than her prede-

cessor, Jean-Claude Juncker. The European

economy is sputtering along and the crises

that marked so much of his tenure are re-

ceding into the past.

Yet the global context looks more chal-

lenging. The transatlantic bond has frayed,

and Chinese commercial and strategic am-

bitions are lapping at Europe’s shores. In

response Ms von der Leyen says hers will be

a “geopolitical commission”. She promises

initiatives on defence, migration and in-

dustrial policy (which some fear could tip

into protectionism). Sabine Weyand, who

runs the commission’s trade department,

told an audience in Berlin this week that

the euwould use trade as one weapon in its

international policy arsenal rather than

merely “following economic logic”.

The new president will also face chal-

lenges from within. The fractured parlia-

ment that emerged after the European elec-

tions in May will not always prove so

obliging as it did this week. Ever-present

splits among governments will deepen as

rich and poor countries bicker over the eu’s

seven-year budget, which must be agreed

on in 2020. And fresh divides are emerging

over Emmanuel Macron’s disruptive ideas

for eu reform, which spook status quo

powers like Germany.

An early test will come on euenlarge-

ment. Mr Macron’s recent veto of member-

ship talks with North Macedonia and Alba-

nia infuriated other eugovernments. It

falls to the commission early next year to

propose changes to the existing process, as

France’s president wants.

Ms von der Leyen has promised a flurry

of early initiatives, including on pay and

the “human and ethical implications” of

artificial intelligence. The first of her

blockbusters will be a “European Green

Deal”, a set of climate proposals that are

planned for mid-December. Ms von der

Leyen aspires to turn Europe carbon-neu-

tral by 2050 and to tighten the 2030 emis-

sions target. That implies tweaks to the

eu’s carbon-trading market as well as a tax

on imports from less green places. These

will be subject to the usual wrangling

among governments with diverging inter-

ests and priorities. The eu’s leaders may

have put Ms von der Leyen in place, but

they will not do her bidding. 7

Ursula von der Leyen gets down to

work at last

The new European Commission

Better late than

never