The Nationalist Party is considering proposals to appoint a CEO and rebrand its media as part of the next phase of the party’s commercial restructuring, this newspaper has learnt.
PN sources told The Sunday Times of Malta that the plan is to have everything in place by the end of the year.
“We are open to appointing a CEO and re-launching the media under a different brand, but this has to be part of a wider restructuring plan intended to make our media more credible and on par with the national broadcaster,” a party official said.
He added that the PN leadership had not taken these decisions immediately after the general election due to the tight timeframe dictated by the European Parliament election. Another reason was that this time last year the party was in deep financial crisis.
However, last month’s disappointing European Parliament election result highlighted the urgent need for the party to change its approach and the message being conveyed by its media.
“Now that the dust of the MEP elections has settled and the party has achieved a degree of financial stability, it is the right time to take the bull by the horns and tackle the commercial aspects,” the PN official said.
PN leader Simon Busuttil recently told this newspaper that the party had become self-sustaining even though it still had to address the huge debt accumulated over the years.
We are now looking to move to the next phase
He said that, for the first time in years, the PN media were breaking even, and the party’s political campaigns had been funded with the money generated throughout the year. Dr Busuttil had also pointed out that the party media was only communicating with the PN’s grassroots and so needed to soften its approach line to be more credible.
The idea of appointing a CEO who would focus exclusively on the party’s commercial and business aspects was first floated last year in the aftermath of the general election defeat.
A party-appointed commission tasked with analysing the reasons for such a heavy defeat had come up with this proposal as part of a long list of recommendations. The commission had remarked that a CEO would allow the PN general secretary to dedicate himself exclusively to the political aspects of the party.
However, the immediate priority for the new PN leadership and administration which stepped in this time last year was to stop the party’s financial meltdown.
“A year on we are back to the drawing board and we are now taking stock of what has been done so far and looking to move to the next phase,” the PN official said.
He also remarked that in its first year in Opposition, the party was very active in overhauling its political structures through radical changes in the statute. Though this was approved last January, some of it is still “work in progress” including the setting up of a forum for professionals, and another body promoting equal opportunities.
The official remarked that these structures were not yet fully-functional as people were still being appointed to them.