Crossroads

The race for the Labour Party leadership has been very much the talk of the town during this last month or so. Speculation is rife and interest is plenty, not only within the ranks of the left-wing support in Malta. Alfred Sant's recent actions have continued to boost interest and add spice to what looks like being a very intriguing matter indeed. Dom Mintoff's appearance last Sunday added the cherry to the cake.

This much said, I think it is in the national interest that the MLP choose the right leader but it is up to their delegates to understand this and we can only be spectators to this whole process. This, however, does not deny us the right to comment on what is going on.

Taking a quick look at the contestants one can form a mental picture of a crossroads. In more senses than one I am sure that all have in mind a very different kind of path leading the MLP to the promised land, a target that has eluded the socialists for the better part of almost three decades during which they have used 101 different tactics to try and snatch power but have somehow always been left disillusioned.

Having managed to shrug off the violent element when Dr Sant took over, they sadly stopped there and many a time they have looked like someone who wears a brand-new suit every day but never showers.

Think for a while and try and make a list of the new policies that Labour have tried to sell us. Think of the vision Labour have and have had for our country for the last quarter of a century, I am sure the list will stop short of one.

The only formula the socialists adhered to was mud-slinging and accusations and, at times, it seemed to me that the Leader of the Opposition and the party officials were vying for the post of Commissioner of Police not for Prime Minister and so lead the country.

Of course, I agree that corruption of any kind should be curbed but we should let that kind of work be done by those who are competent and not use these cases to make cheap propaganda.

This is a very important time for the MLP, a time of reflection and a time to make the right decisions. Malta needs a strong opposition and, in order to achieve this, one must think with one's mind and not with one's heart. Labour have had leaders in the past that were mere shadows of their predecessors and this only led to chaos and loss of credibility. The socialists have to work very hard to regain the trust of the people; they have to try and rebuild the bridges they have destroyed along the way.

I want to stress that having done all this will not automatically qualify them to govern the country but a serious opposition will, at least, give the Maltese citizens peace of mind whenever a change in government occurs.

It is about time that the two parties adhere to common ground on certain policies of national interest because only this way can we have a guarantee of continuity and, thus, our status as a serious nation in international fora will be respected.

New leadership contest apart. Why did the MLP fail to win the election? It was because they gave a sense of uncertainty to the electorate. They did not manage to convince the new and the floaters that they truly had a strategy for our country.

The fact is that the slogan Bidu Ġdid (new beginning) did not work because the Maltese did not want this; they did not want to vote for a new beginning but they wanted to vote for continuity and only the Nationalist Party under Lawrence Gonzi could guarantee that.

People did not want to start all over again. They did not want to have a repeat of the VAT/CET farce in 1996. It was a simple question of not losing what you achieved in place of getting a Pandora's box. Labour dedicated their campaign to criticising all that the Nationalist government did; they tried to paint the whole story black and it just did not work for the simple reason that the achievements of the Nationalist government were all there to be seen.

Let us hope that now that the MLP are at the crossroads they really make the right decision. We need a serious opposition in this country. We need to have an opposition with which the government can really discuss issues and policies.

We need an opposition that can be trusted. The Nationalist government needs an opposition, not just an opponent.

If we have a trustworthy government like we have now and a serious opposition like I augur the Maltese socialists to be it will make it easier for the people to make the right choice. After all, there is only one way, the right way!

Mr Casa is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.

david.casa@europarl.europa.eu