Go for it, Joseph

So here we have him, 34 years old, a new striking smile and with a welcome all-on-board approach. Surely this reminded us all of Tony Blair when he became leader of the British Labour Party. So did Joseph Muscat's first speech during the mass rally organised to celebrate his victory. He emphasised the words "discord", "error", "doubt" and "despair". This reminded me of the famous words uttered by yet another British politician; Margaret Thatcher, when she first entered Downing Street: "Where there is discord let us bring harmony; where there is error let us bring truth; where there is doubt let us bring faith and where there is despair let us bring hope".

I must admit that this was not what Labour leaders looked like in the not-so-distant past. The speech we listened to on Sunday was somewhat different in tone from the eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth tone of his predecessor and, if one thing is clear, it is the fact that from an early stage Dr Muscat is doing his best to establish himself as a self-styled leader and conveying the message that he will be nobody's puppet and that, notwithstanding his proximity to the previous leader, he is determined to impose, albeit in a reconciliatory way, his style of leadership.

He has an uphill task. It is not easy to lead a party that has been in political wilderness for such a long time. Meeting Lawrence Gonzi earlier this week, Dr Muscat emphasised that his style of politics will be based on an exchange of ideas and discussions and, for stating this, I think he should be lauded. But will he be strong enough to manage to sell his idea to the Labour media? Let's just hope he will.

Many are seeing Dr Muscat as a solution for the MLP but what is most important is that they identify the problem this time around. His speech on Sunday was a plea to everyone to go back to the party. But Dr Muscat will be committing a cardinal sin if he does not rid himself of those that have made the party unapproachable. The sooner he shows them the exit the better for him and his credibility.

His approach to dialogue was nevertheless a breath of fresh air. Dr Muscat said that he looked forward to see that both parties worked together as part of Team Malta and this is something that Labour has failed to do since 1987. We just have to keep our fingers crossed about this promise.

I must say that I was positively impressed to hear him apologise to those people that were hurt by Labour in the past. He also stressed that he wanted to be frank and admit the mistakes made by Labour. It takes courage to speak in this manner but it takes strength and determination to avoid a repeat.

For the MLP to even have a sporting chance to win the next general election, there needs to be a major overhaul. Dr Muscat might have the will and ability to start this overhaul but I think there will be many from within the party that will try to rein him in, mainly to protect their positions. Dr Muscat must understand he is the one that should decide who his closest collaborators should be.

He is indeed a new face and so he cannot afford to have beside him people that exude antipathy.

If Dr Muscat manages to achieve all this, then it will be truly the start of a new era for Maltese politics. Malta needs a strong opposition. The government needs an opposition it can rely on. Dr Muscat had stated that he wants to work hand in hand with Dr Gonzi's government on important issues. Let us just hope that this is translated into facts. One important move could be an agreement on pairing in Parliament because Dr Muscat knows only too well how important the work of the ministers abroad is. I just hope that he lives up to his expectations and that he will truly deliver, not only for the good of his party but, much more importantly, for the well- being of all the country.

Mr Blair himself would have suggested to Dr Muscat to say what he really means and mean what he says. Dr Muscat should concentrate on what he means and what he stands for. Caution will not win him the next general election.

Only time can tell what kind of leader Dr Muscat will be. So far he has made a good start. Let us hope that his promises become reality because, as Andrew Jackson, said: "A man with courage makes a majority".

Good luck Joseph.

Mr Casa is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.

david.casa@europarl.europa.eu, www.davidcasa.eu