Red and white

Shadow Min­is­ter for Accom­mod­a­tion and Lands, PN MP Stan­ley Zam­mit, and I met at my office last week. We had a con­struct­ive and enjoy­able dia­logue.

I in­vited Mr Zam­mit for an informal chat to get bet­ter acquain­ted and to dis­cuss the chal­lenges and oppor­tun­it­ies in these import­ant sec­tors. Such meet­ings are import­ant because they help build mutual under­stand­ing and encour­age a cul­ture of respect. They also demon­strate that pub­lic ser­vice should always place the coun­try's interests above polit­ical dif­fer­ences, allow­ing ideas to be dis­cussed openly and eval­u­ated solely on their merit.

Our con­ver­sa­tion was a breath of fresh air, with par­tisan polit­ics set aside and sin­cere dia­logue tak­ing place. I look for­ward to col­lab­or­at­ing with Stan­ley and receiv­ing con­struct­ive cri­ti­cism in the months to come. This is how, together, we help shape people’s lives for the bet­ter.

Labour won the last gen­eral elec­tion, and it did so con­vin­cingly. People voted for the imple­ment­a­tion of the Labour Party's elect­oral mani­festo, and that is what will hap­pen over the next five years. However, that does not mean that Labour has a mono­poly on good ideas, nor does it mean that the PN pro­pos­als related to lands and accom­mod­a­tion should be entirely dis­carded. I dis­cussed them with Stan­ley, and I am sure that we could find con­ver­gence on some of those pro­pos­als with ours.

Stan­ley and I have shown that by sit­ting around the same table, even when we dis­agree, we cre­ate the con­di­tions for bet­ter decision-mak­ing.

Gov­ern­ment land and accom­mod­a­tion are sec­tors that have a dir­ect impact on people's qual­ity of life, and even on our eco­nomy. The decisions we take today will shape gen­er­a­tions to come. That is why they must be well thought out, and for this to hap­pen, open dia­logue is neces­sary.

Stan­ley and I engaged respect­fully, aware that in the com­ing weeks and months, there will be occa­sions where we shall dis­agree force­fully. There is no harm in that if we engage in con­struct­ive cri­ti­cism. I know that Stan­ley shares this belief, and our meet­ing reflec­ted exactly that. There are mat­ters on which we have dif­fer­ent per­spect­ives, but we both appre­ci­ate the fact that national interest should pre­vail – cer­tainly above par­tisan polit­ics.

When Prime Min­is­ter Robert Abela entrus­ted me with the Accom­mod­a­tion and Lands port­

fo­lio, I knew it would be a tall order. This is a highly sens­it­ive port­fo­lio – land because in Malta it is such a lim­ited resource and we must ensure we take good care of it, and accom­mod­a­tion because des­pite a thriv­ing eco­nomy, afford­able hous­ing remains a need and a pri­or­ity.

Cer­tainly, I shall give it my all – as I have always done whenever I was entrus­ted with a min­is­terial respons­ib­il­ity. I will work tire­lessly to deliver fair policies centred on the needs of the people. At the same time, I know that the hon­our­able Stan­ley Zam­mit will always hold me account­able and under scru­tiny. I wel­come that, for no gov­ern­ment, or any of its elec­ted rep­res­ent­at­ives, is bey­ond scru­tiny, nor should they ever be.

Con­struct­ive cri­ti­cism is something to be wel­comed, not feared. I look for­ward to con­tinu­ing this spirit of engage­ment with Stan­ley.

Cap­ital(s) of Cul­ture

This week, the Rabat (Gozo)

Local Coun­cil will launch a cul­tural strategy for the loc­al­ity after it was announced that its applic­a­tion for the title of European Cap­ital of Cul­ture 2031 has advanced to the second stage.

Among the strategy's main pri­or­it­ies are increas­ing cul­tural par­ti­cip­a­tion, enhan­cing the vis­ib­il­ity of cul­tural activ­it­ies, devel­op­ing audi­ences, and improv­ing coordin­ated com­mu­nic­a­tion to engage more people across soci­ety in the town's cul­tural life. This will also be sup­por­ted by ini­ti­at­ives that cel­eb­rate Rabat's cul­ture throughout the year, with greater emphasis on digital com­mu­nic­a­tion and the use of net­works to ensure that cul­tural activ­it­ies reach a wider audi­ence.

Another part of the strategy focuses on cul­tural spaces and infra­struc­ture, with increased invest­ment in exist­ing facil­it­ies, improved access­ib­il­ity and con­nectiv­ity among them, and stronger col­lab­or­a­tion with organ­iz­a­tions to keep them as act­ive as pos­sible.

Among the pro­posed meas­ures are train­ing and ment­or­ing pro­grams for cul­tural oper­at­ors, clearer gov­ernance struc­tures, and policies that strengthen col­lab­or­a­tion among the pub­lic and private sec­tors and the com­munity.

The over­all aim is to strengthen Vic­toria's access­ib­il­ity fur­ther, rein­force its role as an integ­ral part of every­day life, and cre­ate new oppor­tun­it­ies for the com­munity.

This is a moment of great joy and per­sonal sat­is­fac­tion, because in the pre­vi­ous legis­lature, together with the Rabat Local Coun­cil, we worked hard to make this hap­pen.

I had the extraordin­ary priv­ilege of serving as Cul­ture Min­is­ter when Val­letta was the European Cap­ital of Cul­ture. Val­letta, which I took the ini­ti­at­ive to enshrine in our con­sti­tu­tion as Malta’s Cap­ital City a few months ago, shone. Thou­sands of vis­it­ors appre­ci­ated its unique beauty and his­tor­ical import­ance. Bey­ond the cel­eb­ra­tions, the occa­sion strengthened Malta’s cul­tural iden­tity, show­cased the cre­ativ­ity of our artists and cre­at­ives, and demon­strated how invest­ing in cul­ture and the arts leaves a leg­acy for future gen­er­a­tions. I firmly believe that cul­ture remains one of the strongest pil­lars of our national iden­tity. It brings com­munit­ies together, inspires cre­ativ­ity, strengthens social cohe­sion, and con­trib­utes sig­ni­fic­antly to sus­tain­able eco­nomic devel­op­ment through tour­ism, edu­ca­tion, and the cre­at­ive indus­tries.

Ron­aldo

Argu­ably one of the finest foot­ball play­ers of all time, Cris­ti­ano Ron­aldo hung up his (inter­na­tional) boots earlier this week. Por­tugal was edged out by its neigh­bour, Spain, which will now advance to the next stages of the World Cup. A vis­ibly emo­tional Cris­ti­ano Ron­aldo bid farewell to the Por­tuguese foot­ball fans who saw him off at the Dal­las Sta­dium, offer­ing him a well-deserved round of applause.

Much has been writ­ten, and will be writ­ten, about this now middle-aged man, who, from humble begin­nings, raised by a single mother on a shoes­tring budget, went on to become a global foot­ball sen­sa­tion. He is an inspir­a­tion to mil­lions of young people around the world who see in this foot­ball giant a clas­sic example of how to achieve your dreams if you work hard enough. His remark­able jour­ney is a test­a­ment to unwaver­ing determ­in­a­tion.

US-Iran

As I write this art­icle on Wed­nes­day after­noon, the USIran cease­fire agree­ment is in jeop­ardy fol­low­ing Ira­nian attacks on US mil­it­ary sites in Kuwait and Bahrain. The US mil­it­ary respon­ded with strikes on Iran. At the NATO Sum­mit in Ank­ara, Tur­key, NATO chief Mark Rutte called the Amer­ican strikes "abso­lutely neces­sary."

While there is no uni­ver­sally accep­ted offi­cial death toll since the start of the US-Iran war last year, which spilled into the Middle East and Gulf region it is widely assumed that hun­dreds of civil­ian lives have been lost, and thou­sands of lives uprooted.

Accord­ing to the latest reports, there has been no offi­cial con­firm­a­tion of the U.S. mil­it­ary fatal­it­ies from Wed­nes­day’s attacks on the Kuwait and Bahrain U.S. mil­it­ary sites. However, the implic­a­tions of these attacks mean that the June 14, 2026, cease­fire agree­ment has been com­prom­ised.

My thoughts are with the fam­il­ies and people of Kuwait and Bahrain and all those affected by the attacks on mil­it­ary sites in those two coun­tries.

I stand in solid­ar­ity with all those impacted and hope for a return to the cease­fire agree­ment, which is the only way for­ward for pre­vent­ing fur­ther loss of life and cre­at­ing the con­di­tions for mean­ing­ful dia­logue.