I read in the newspapers the main points of the “key-address” by Professor Joe Friggieri in the PN General Council and that of other speakers.

Prof. Friggieri claimed that the Yes vote in the divorce referendum was an indication that after seven years from EU accession the Maltese have developed a freedom mentality. He declared in no unsure terms that the PN was now at the crossroads and should follow the electorate’s undisputed direction in favour of progressive topics. He further claimed that this soul-searching exercise should lead to further liberal issues being tackled, such as gay rights, and others. The “others” list is, in fact, quite long if one were to delve into the liberal mentality. How about abortion and gay marriages, for example?

The mild liberal wind that started at the beginning of the conference had by now gathered full momentum and was blowing heavily towards a compromise with progressive attitudes and issues. Only this could save the party, many of the speakers claimed. After all, this was a Rainbow Party, one that was open to all and sundry wherever they came from and whatever they believed in – indeed, one may say, more of a hotchpotch entity than a properly organised thing. So let’s compromise!

By now the question of principle was completely sidelined by the Conference. It was only the Prime Minister who dared remind listeners of the party’s essential Christian base and credentials and that the words “Religio et Patria” were still very visible on the party’s emblem.

But this timely reminder by a respected personage was brushed aside by the conference still reeling from the impact of the fast blowing progressive wind. By now speakers and audience were all geared towards a compromise solution. The liberal faction, although relatively small, was having a field day. After all, they have been proved more than right by the results of the divorce referendum with 53 per cent in favour. Panic had indeed set in and was by now strangulating the arid debate.

All of a sudden the conference realised that Eddie Fenech Adami was becoming a liability. Maybe old age was clouding his mind or he was in a time warp? The Times went even one step further with a central cartoon in its June 20 issue showing Dr Fenech Adami grimly asking what appears to be his other self: “What’s this horrible smell?” To which the obvious reply by the other self as imagined by the fertile mind of the cartoonist was: “Well, you’ve put your foot in it!” All Dr Fenech Adami did to get so abused was because he had correctly claimed in The Sunday Times of the previous day that “Malta has repeatedly found itself at the crossroads of civilisation throughout its history and yet managed to retain its identity as a Christian nation.”

Before we go all awry on this need to make unsound compromises on matters of what have been fundamental principles since the party’s very inception over a hundred years ago, let those who are in a position in the party to decide to listen to the advice of Churchill as a young aspiring politician when the party he was part of was passing through a similar period of soul-searching: “There is a higher reason still. There is a moral force which, as the human race advances, will more and more strengthen and protect those who enjoy it. And we shall make a fatal bargain if we allow the moral force which this country has so long exerted to become diminished, or perhaps even destroyed.” Time and history proved Churchill right. What about us here in Malta? Shall those who are still around in years to come say the same of Eddie Fenech Adami?