Messages from home and abroad

Barely one third of May has gone by. But so much has happened on the political scene both here and abroad that one could comment on.

In the UK, as expected, the Labour Party was given quite a hiding. I wouldn't give too much importance to the success of the Scottish National Party. Their achievement is due to the current weakness of the Labour Party, the dominant force in Scotland for the last 50 years. Nor do the local elections have any bearing on general elections. Last time round, the UK Labour Party under Tony Blair was left licking its wounds, only for the Prime Minister to triumph for the third time in national elections. This time it's different. The war in Iraq has definitely doomed Mr Blair. He will be remembered for crushing the far left in his party, moving it to centre ground, making it electable once more. He went on to give his country an unprecedented 10 years of uninterrupted economic growth. Now, to his credit, seeing the writing on the wall, these very days he will be resigning, giving his successor a sporting chance to snatch victory out of defeat.

The same can be said of Jacques Chirac. By deciding not to seek re-election he enabled the moderate right to hold on to power. The election of Nicolas Sarkozy is more instructive even for us. Many had claimed he had compromised himself, conveying an imprint of authoritarianism that estranged him from the centre.

The ever fractious French left was believed that, after so long in the wilderness, they would close ranks this time, which they sort of did. In Ségolène Royal they had an energetic, charming, charismatic candidate who was judged to be a winner. She was however hampered by the fact that the socialists in France never reformed themselves and by the deep ideological rifts among their leftist allies, as well as by a few gaffes during the campaign, shedding doubt on her competence.

The French economy, hindered by its 35-hour working week, was fast losing its competitive edge. Mr Sarkozy promised economic reforms placing France once more in its rightful place, in the vanguard of Europe. Opinion polls have suggested that many French voters preferred Ms Royal but voted Mr Sarkozy. The running of government is a serious thing. Competence won the day.

Locally, the first of May celebrations were an occasion for the two parties to portray their image, in totally different ways.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi gave flesh to his vision for Malta in the near future. He targeted those areas where Malta could and should excel by 2015. He spoke with authority and credibility because what he had been focusing on for the last three years is all happening.

The deficit has been tamed and a surplus in a couple of years is becoming increasingly more likely. The national debt in absolute terms is on a downward trend and more so as a percentage of GDP. After the spike in prices brought about by oil prices, inflation is down this year as also predicted by the government and pooh-poohed by others besides our political adversaries. The economy is picking up in all sectors and in some areas it is roaring beyond expectations. National projects are coming on stream one after the other.

All this is the fruit of, what I have stated more than once, the ability of the Prime Minister to focus on problems and challenges, listen and consult, decide and single-mindedly pursue a successful solution.

He set out six areas where Malta can excel in the region.

• Information technology and financial services. In both cases he pointed out that we are almost there, at the very top.

• Manufacturing and tourism. Restructuring has long been underway. We have made considerable progress but we must do more. We will make a success of the knowledge economy.

• Quality education, which is the starting point of all success, especially so in Malta where human resources are our only resource. English should be seen as an important tool to encourage foreigners to study in Malta, not only the English language but other areas where we can excel. Thus, education is no longer being envisaged merely as an investment in the development of our human resources but as an area where wealth is directly produced. In this scenario he emphasised that stipends are here to stay despite claims even by experts that the system is unsustainable. The returns are worth the costs. That's leadership! And he is being proved right. Only stipends will be refined to encourage students to seek those areas that are more beneficial to the islands.

• Finally, health. Now that we have a jewel of a hospital and centres of excellence have been nurtured during the last 20 years, there is no reason why our internationally-recognised medical capability is not used to earn foreign exchange and create new wealth, besides enhancing the service for our own population.

No wonder the audience was spellbound!

On the other hand Labour, as admitted by the Labour leader himself, has been experimenting in recent years in making May Day relevant for today. Last year's activity at Ta' Qali was a disaster. This year they sought to draw the crowds by inviting Totò Cutugno. Nothing wrong.

The activity fell within their recent soft approach strategy. Witness the praising of selected areas of success, forgetting that these were some of the areas they had claimed were doomed once Malta joined Europe.

But perhaps they chose the wrong singer with the wrong song. Most of the Labour rank and file, brought up on a diet of anti Europeanism, could not stomach anything that praises the European Union. The embarrassment is not the worse facet. As surveys confirm, most of the Labour supporters have not followed their leaders in their apparent conversion. A dangerous situation. A future Labour government might approach Europe in the wrong way in order to appease their supporters.

Dr Sant also repeated his new beginning slogan. It runs counter to the recently-adopted strategy. If they have recognised and accepted the financial sector, the pharmaceutical industry, SmartCity, and an ever-increasing list of successes, is it not a question of building on solid foundations rather than a new beginning?

Dr Gonzi last Sunday continued on the theme by expounding his vision for Gozo. In the Labour camp, last Sunday will be remembered for Michael Falzon's outburst on the way he is being treated by members of his party. He implicitly admitted to the presence of two rival factions in the party.

From abroad, lessons from unelectable leaders calling it a day for the good of their party. Even though they had reached peaks of success in the past. From abroad as well as at home the values of proved competence, substance and strong leadership against mere slogan mongering and good marketing.

Dr Deguara is Minister of Health, the Elderly and Community Care.