Abela’s difficult decisions - Ranier Fsadni

If you want to appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of Robert Abela’s position, take a look at what he’s called the “difficult decisions” he’s had to take since January. They say something about his abilities and constraints.

In politics, difficult decisions vary not just in degree. There are entirely different kinds of difficulty.

The purely difficult decisions are those where it’s unclear what you should do. Whatever you decide comes with a high risk of a potentially catastrophic outcome. Every option could have unforeseen, unintended consequences.

The pandemic was one such case. It was unprecedented. Expert information often required revision. Radical uncertainty affected both public health and just how large financial packages could be without endangering the public coffers.

Abela got the pandemic decisions largely right. Malta’s results – as measured by international league tables – were not as great as he describes them. But neither does he deserve a lot of the criticism he’s taken.

(Though if the amnesty on social distancing fines turns out to have been a blanket amnesty, he will not only have lied to the public; he will also have damaged his government’s ability to...