Editorial

Sit back, hold your breath and prepare yourself for an avalanche of political rhetoric and mantras that are likely to turn your brain into mush, unless an effort is made to either shut the mind completely off the election campaign or take everything that is said from now on with a pinch of salt. Never mind the political posters that will be decorating our streets from now on until well after the election, or the mass of political junk mail that will clog the letter boxes, there will be enough political talk that will make any reasonable man wish the election is over in a week.

Most probably, many would have already made up their mind as to whom they will vote - even if the polls continue to indicate a high percentage of "undecided" voters, most of whom probably want to keep their choices close to their heart - and, as usual, the smartest of politicians in the districts will try to direct their attention to those whom they think are as yet undecided.

There was much expectation last weekend to the Labour leader's speech at the concluding session of the Labour general conference on Sunday but, despite the hype, it turned out to be most disappointing. Alfred Sant's speech had been most expected mainly because it marked his return to the helm of the party after the surgery he had undergone before Christmas and, also, because people thought he would be mapping his party's way forward in concrete terms. At least that was the message the party media transmitted.

True to form, Dr Sant rolled out mantra after mantra, speaking mainly of matters that have already been discussed for weeks, if not months, on end. To make matters worse for Labour, the visit by their guests from the Party of European Socialists led many to make comparisons of the situation today with that of times past, or, to be more precise, to the time when a law was enacted under Labour banning what they called foreign interference by visitors.

Under that law, the PES leader who commented about the change, which, he said, was now coming, would have earned the wrath of the Maltese socialists and shown the door in no time.

Labour's socialist guests would obviously not have remembered such absurd local legislation, nor, it would seem, are they all that familiar with Labour's recent views on Europe, for they would otherwise not have been amused, as one Maltese Labour member of the European Parliament put it, that some quarters still try to resort to scaremongering tactics on Labour and Europe. If many Maltese still consider the MLP as euro-sceptic, the party has only itself to blame, for it was Labour that was so vehemently against Malta joining the European Union.

Labour may have now changed their tune on Malta and the European Union but, having been so vociferous against membership, they can hardly expect to be considered as the standard bearers of Malta's European Union drive. It seems they have also already forgotten that they had frozen the island's membership application immediately after they won the 1996 general election, a move that had cost the island dearly in more ways than one. And, only on Tuesday on state television, Dr Sant agreed with his interviewer he was confident Brussels would be willing to reopen negotiations to improve the lot of such areas as agriculture and the shipyards. Does Dr Sant really think that is possible?

When, last Sunday, Dr Sant once again promised that they would halve the energy surcharge if they are elected, he said they would do this in a framework of a policy that would encourage alternative energy sources and other energy-saving methods. Yes, but over what timespan? How would he finance the island's energy requirements in the meantime? Labour would have to come out with far more credible propositions than this if they want to persuade "undecided" voters to look their way.