Changing masks

Those who enter the political scene generally aspire to leave a mark on their community. True politicians are not upcoming pop stars. They don't wish to be seen as the next Britney or Enrique. On the contrary, they subconsciously or consciously desire to be remembered for a small change they would have brought about in their microcosm.

It is, therefore, strange when a political leader (supposedly not your run-of-the-mill politician) attempts to portray himself as the splitting image of another politician. Joseph Muscat's concoction of endorsements and self-imposed comparisons probably help him to maintain momentum among his diehard supporters; they certainly don't serve to rebuild the image of a political party that has been in opposition for three consecutive legislatures.

We all remember Dr Muscat's weekly columns in a variety of daily newspapers over the past 15 years. Yes, lest we forget, the "young and fresh" Dr Muscat has actually been around for quite a long time. Anyway, the main topic of Dr Muscat's rants was the "no to Europe" campaign. Being one of the leaders of the No campaign, he attempted to convince voters that entry into the European Union would bring about untold pain and suffering to workers and families. Our industrial set-up would collapse and we would find ourselves inundated with European workers who would take our jobs.

Three Sundays ago, The Sunday Times published an interview with Dr Muscat, with one of the questions asked revolving around whether his thoughts about Malta's EU membership had actually changed. "I wasn't alone," he said, as his mind set off into emergency mode, "there were also others like me." Erm, like Tony Blair! The elves rejoiced and raised a toast to their new leader who is surely set on the path to become Malta's next all-in-one combo special of Tony Blair, Martin Schulz, Barack Obama and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

Forgetting for a moment that Dr Muscat has not yet acknowledged that he made a mistake in arguing so vehemently against Malta's EU membership and the fact that these comparisons and platitudes certainly don't serve to build a "new" image for Labour, it is simply preposterous to allege that Mr Blair once campaigned against the UK's withdrawal from the EU.

Dr Muscat referred to a speech Mr Blair gave to the European Parliament on June 23, 2005. Mr Blair did actually make a speech to Parliament on that day and, like Dr Muscat, I was present. This is what he really said: "I am a passionate pro-European. I always have been. My first vote was in 1975 in the British referendum on membership and I voted yes. In 1983, when I was the last candidate in the UK to be selected shortly before that election and when my party had a policy of withdrawing from Europe, I told the selection conference that I disagreed with the policy. Some thought I had lost the selection. Some perhaps wish I had. I then helped change our policy in the 1980s and was proud of that change".

Mr Blair has always been in favour of Europe, even if this flew in the face of his own party's policy at times. Today, Dr Muscat is attempting to compare himself to Mr Blair, even though he campaigned against Europe, publicly promised to frame his EU referendum voting document and never said a word against his party's policy direction. If Dr Muscat was Mr Blair's leader five years ago he would have been very quick to present him with a €15,000 fine for going against party policy!

Dr Muscat's continuous and rather odious comparisons are serving to stall his party's "earthquake". Besides, he will be in danger of trying too hard to change too much and this will have a negative effect and take him back to the starting point, as one of his collegues in his parliamentary group commented.

His dangerous game of trying to get everyone on board will ultimately backfire and the so-called unity of his party will soon show crevices. Furthermore, it proves that Dr Muscat is still not prepared to project himself as a political leader in his own right.

Instead of quoting Mr Blair, Dr Muscat would be much better off if he started to emulate him and really shake up the party from its foundations. Mr. Blair had the guts to do it and he succeeded... Will Dr Muscat prove to be just as tough ? Only time can tell.

Mr Casa is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.

david@davidcasa.eu, www.davidcasa.eu