Hail, the new leader

Congratulations are due to my fellow member of the European Parliament, Joseph Muscat, who was elected leader of the Malta Labour Party last week.

His election, unsurprising as it may have been, marks a new chapter in the history of the MLP. And, potentially, for all the rest of us.

The question is whether Joseph, as he wants us to call him, will follow the record of his predecessors or whether he will truly re-establish his party as an electable and reliable alternative to the PN.

Of course, allowance must be made for Joseph's honeymoon, brief as it may be.

Joseph, may turn out to be a formidable opponent to my party. True, George Abela seemed a safer choice for typical Nationalists voters who know that the day will come when this country will have another Labour government. But there is no question that Joseph will be giving his new job his best shot and that he should certainly not be underestimated.

Joseph has come a long way from the anti-EU rhetoric of his days as Made In Brussels anchor and Maltastar editor, even if his EU credentials are not a shiny as he makes them out to be. Having seen him operate at close range in the European Parliament, I have taken note of his strengths and weaknesses and I must admit that he has many more of the first than of the second. It would, therefore, be a mistake not to take him seriously or to dismiss him too easily as a turn-off.

Does all this spell trouble for the government, for the PN and for the rest of us? Not necessarily.

A reinvigorated opposition is not a bad thing at all. It keeps the government on its toes and keeps it away from the sin of complacency.

And, equally, the process of renewal (and rejuvenation) of the MLP will have a knock-on effect on the governing party. In all fairness, the PN hit the renewal note immediately after the election without waiting for the cue. But a new and fresher MLP makes that process all the more compelling.

If all is to be said, my colleague Joseph gives us in the PN a new challenge - to dream of yet another election victory.

So a more effective government and a renewed governing party is certainly no bad news for one and all. Which is not to say that Joseph will or should have an easy time.

Beyond the positive rhetoric of the first days, Joseph will face a mammoth task in repositioning his party and making it electable.

For too long his party has relied on spin over substance and, even there, it has been modest, at best. Joseph, himself a PR man, will soon be put to the test when he is now called upon to put substance behind his party's slogans.

He might well be tempted to stick to spin as he did this weekend when he claimed that "since Gonzi's electoral programme had no 'misprints' (funny him saying it), the government will now have to implement its programme. And where it does not, it will find the Labour Party challenging it".

At least, the MLP now finds the governing programme a good one. But, sorry, I missed the part where the government disowned its electoral programme. Of course, it did not and it will not.

On substance, Joseph's task will be even greater, given that his party has been devoid of serious policy platforms for as long as I can remember. And on major policy issues it has a very negative record indeed. He must decide where to position his party given that the PN is firmly in the centre of the political spectrum and that it has no intention of budging.

With his calls for a "progressive" reawakening of his party during the leadership campaign, Joseph may be smarting for a left-around-turn for his party, away from the centre of political gravity and away from moderation. Inversely, if he sticks to the centre, we will soon start asking ourselves whether opting for Joseph is all that necessary given that we already have the real thing.

Joseph will also find that, as leader of a party, he will now also have to take a stand. Equally, he will no longer have the luxury of cherry-picking only those issues that can earn him votes. As a party leader he will now have to give us his alternative.

Be that as it may, as a colleague in the European Parliament, I cannot but wish him well for his election and jolly good luck in his new job.

He definitely needs it.

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Dr Busuttil is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.