I'm ready and willing to serve

When party delegates recently asked me whether I would join the party leadership race, my answer was that only after Eddie Fenech Adami made his future decidedly known would I decide. None of us would have been more pleased to learn he meant to stay on after his 70th birthday. It was not to be.

I have served for 16 years as minister. I have had ample training in being an instrument of national unity and delivering on political pledges under the leadership of Dr Fenech Adami. Now, I'm ready and willing to serve both my party and the country as the head of a lead-team made up of all of us, 400,000 Maltese.

I differ from those joining this exciting race for the party leadership in several ways; certainly in the dynamics that go into my work, though not in the commitment to make this a better country. And I'm slightly older.

What is my vision, however?

I see this as a time to reorder priorities, to make sure this country picks up economically, socially and politically as early as possible. And I wish to see a far more united country and politicians serving the national interest more and wasting energy in fruitless squabbling less.

I wish to give start to a new chapter in our lives. This country with Dr Fenech Adami at its helm has been transformed for the better in so many aspects of its way of doing things. Now we also need to ensure that we abandon the culture of warmed-up solutions and short, sharp fixes in those areas where this is still the case.

We need to breathe new meaning into that key word capable of making us truly successful across many frontiers - solidarity.

We can come together - party members, officials, counsellors, local committees, party candidates and parliamentary deputies - in more intelligent ways to satisfy in greater dosage the people's constantly changing needs.

We need to make sure we are not overtaken by problems the minute Dr Fenech Adami waves a final goodbye to politics. We owe him, and our nation, that much and more.

This country is far too small to remain divided across party lines. I wish to put an end to politicians wasting their worth over trivia. I will extend the hand of better relations to our traditional political rivals if they can share my vision of turning Malta into a more successful country and quickly. This is a small island and it should take us little to mature out of our petty disputes. We do this by ridding ourselves of our narrow-minded party rivalries, starting by shedding the divisive and hurtful language often associated with the political fray - something that makes dishonourable men out of honourable members. We do this by creating a new body politic that will lead a nation of honest, hard working, law abiding, intelligent, creative men and women out of the lengthened shadows of a divisive past.

I seek a new form of leadership pegged to real teamwork. All of us can do more than one of us. Together we can and shall face up to the challenges we have to conquer inside the EU and in dealing with the rest of the world. We have the tools. We are capable of conducting a proper and honest dialogue laced with ample humility. All we need is the will and then to get on with the job without trying to score points over each other ages before a general election dawns. We can be as mature and as successful as we choose. Believe me.

I wish to see the seeds of solidarity, devolution and sustainability sown by Dr Fenech Adami blossom to full fruition as fast as the use of information technology makes possible.

I wish to see us all enjoy greater freedoms and more rights, particularly women. We need to set up better structures for parents to raise strong children able to fight off the dangers of living ruined lives.

I wish to see us end the dread practice of living off each others' worth and to start mining the great prospects the EU offers us all, irrespective of our political beliefs.

The EU is a peak where great fortunes reside. I strongly believe that.

I wish to see us all share this same vision, as one nation. My own career is crowded with visions that so many people thought could not and would not come true. And yet we did it.

I wish to see us doing it again - and again, and again. It really is up to us.

Dr Galea is minister of education.