Former minister George Pullicino in comments on the reshuffle of the shadow cabinet said today that one worked in a team in the best interests of the team, and it was the prerogative of the Opposition leader to choose the best people as he deemed fit and assign them responsibilities he felt were best to achieve the best results.
Mr Pullicino was speaking in a Radio 101 interview. On Thursday he was made spokesman on early and compulsory education in the Education team headed by shadow minister Therese Comodinio Cachia. He was previously a front bencher as main spokesman on energy.
Mr Pullicino stressed that the important thing was for all politicians to understand and acknowledge that one was not in politics for himself but to serve others in the best way possible in the areas where he was asked to serve.
He said the area he had been assigned responsibility for was a sector he liked. He viewed this as a challenge since education was always very important for the PN. It proved this in the past but now one needed to look to the future and forge new policies based on the country’s evolving needs because what was relevant five years ago might not be so relevant today, and what was good for today might not be good for tomorrow.
Dr Comodini Cachia, who is an MEP, said that during the EP elections people had urged her to stay close to them. She therefore took a conscious decision to keep her family in Malta and worked three days in Brussels and the rest of the week here.
Over the past months she had served on the education committee within the European Parliament and had therefore already been meeting local education stakeholders. The sector was not new for her and she would now step up her work in this sector together with her team – George Pullicino and Carm Mifsud Bonnici who would lead the drafting of policies in their areas of responsibility.
Mr Pullicino said the structure of the new shadow cabinet was based on the clusters format of the PN’s policy groups, which also involved both MPs and MEPs.
The involvement of MEPs was positive because, so far, although Malta joined the EU 10 years ago, many still saw the EU as somewhat foreign. The involvement of MEPs should help for local politics to become more relevant in the context of what was happening in the EU, and vice-versa. This was an example of party renewal and a new style of politics.
The PN, he said, was not made of individuals. It was a team and one worked within a team in the interests of the team. He would continue to work as in the past for the party and his constituents.