Editorial

Dr Eddie Fenech Adami chose his 70th birthday yesterday to announce that he was relinquishing the leadership of the Nationalist Party, which he has led for 27 years, and that he will hand it over to his successor once the latter is chosen by the party delegates in a few weeks' time.

Dr Fenech Adami thus formally confirmed what had long been rumoured for some months now, namely that his departure from the political scene was imminent. Yesterday, however, he did not say when he intended to step down as prime minister, but one understands that it will not be long after May 1, when Malta joins the European Union - a goal to which Dr Fenech Adami dedicated most of his long political career.

Insisting that he now wanted more time to spend with his family, Dr Fenech Adami also implicitly seemed to lessen the possibility that he might succeed Professor Guido de Marco as President when the latter's term runs out on April 4, although he did not rule it out completely.

Dr Fenech Adami has plenty of reasons to look back with satisfaction at the 27 years of his leadership (the longest in the party's history, beating his predecessor George Borg Olivier's 26 years and one month). His record is unbeaten and probably unbeatable: he won five out of six general elections since he became leader and truly transformed the party - and the country - in the process.

Yesterday Dr Fenech Adami said that the years of his leadership fell into two distinct phases: first came the years in Opposition, in the Seventies and Eighties - tough times indeed where the island was teetering on the brink. Democracy was in serious danger and political violence was escalating - yesterday he said the worst moment of his political life was the killing of young PN activist Raymond Caruana in December 1986.

The resilience, stamina and courage which Dr Fenech Adami showed in those years, combined with his rock-solid Christian faith, was a great source of inspiration to his colleagues, officials, members and supporters of the party - and to the country. Showing determination and tremendous courage in the face of constant physical and verbal threats and violence, the Nationalist leader forged ahead in his quest to ensure the survival of democracy and the country's rebirth. They were years of severe trials and tribulations which would have discouraged anyone, but Eddie's constant theme was that "truth shall always prevail".

And so it came to pass, for in May 1987 - after having been blatantly cheated of power in the 1981 general election, when he led his party to an absolute majority of the popular vote, in a two-party contest, but ended with a minority of seats thanks to gerrymandering - Dr Fenech Adami and the party he led were finally vindicated. His first priority on taking office was not, as many in his party expected him to do, a settling of accounts but "national reconciliation".

That task and the equally important one of rebuilding the country's economy and restoring its sense of confidence must have been quite daunting, but with his typical determination Eddie Fenech Adami succeeded. So it was with some justification that yesterday he could point to the fact that since 1987, the country has been transformed.

After 1987, the second phase of Dr Fenech Adami's party leadership - which was always collegial - began: they were years of reconstruction, of generating and creating wealth, of economic growth, of huge infrastructural changes, of a return to political stability, of again giving the Maltese faith in themselves, of ensuring that democracy would never again be imperilled, of decentralisation (the setting up of local councils, for example), and of setting this island on the road to EU membership, a goal his party had set since February, 1979.

It is therefore significant and highly symbolic that Dr Fenech Adami has chosen to bow out of the party leadership now, when the realisation of his long-standing dream is finally in sight. Yesterday he argued that since the country will be facing new and rapid changes once it joins the European Union, he felt that the time had come for a change in the party's (and the country's) leadership.

At 70 Dr Fenech Adami can look back on a truly full life, almost completely dedicated to serving his country. It is an achievement few others can boast of. This essentially modest man obviously has his faults too, and he has admitted to a few mistakes (he is human, after all), but he has always been guided by a sense of service to the nation, inspired by Christian values and the principle of solidarity. It is a splendid legacy which he will be handing over to his successor.

Eddie Fenech Adami has earned his place in history. And it is an honourable one indeed.