Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil does not think Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi favoured him over other potential contenders for the post of party leader when he delegated him to listen to people’s concerns.
MEP Simon Busuttil: the Prime Minister’s special delegate to meet civil society and social partners.“The Prime Minister gave me a task to do and I will not let him down. It’s not an easy task but I will work on it,” Dr Busuttil said when contacted in Brussels yesterday.
The soft-spoken lawyer laughed off suggestions that Dr Gonzi’s decision to entrust him with the job could be interpreted as a signal that he was the preferred contender in a future leadership race.
People should keep their feet on the ground and look at this appointment at face value, he said.
The Times, in its editorial yesterday, asked whether this could be the start of a leadership succession campaign.
The 42-year-old EU parliamentarian was on Sunday appointed Dr Gonzi’s “special delegate” to organise meetings between the Prime Minister and every sector of the country.
He has been tasked with hearing about the challenges, problems and opportunities of a range of workers and to sound them out on how the future of their sector and of the country can be mapped out.
The meetings will be organised through the Nationalist Party’s think-tank, AŻAD, which Dr Busuttil chairs.
“I want to be at the heart of our society and I want the PN to be with me,” Dr Gonzi said in his first address since he was reconfirmed Nationalist Party leader by an overwhelming majority on Saturday.
Dr Busuttil revealed Dr Gonzi had not discussed the appointment with him before announcing it, although he was not caught totally by surprise, he added.
As AŻAD chairman, Dr Busuttil was responsible for drawing up the policy document Għeruq Tagħna – an updated version of the party’s basic document Fehmiet Bażiċi (basic beliefs) which was approved in 1986 and has served as the PN’s ideological guidebook ever since.
The second part of the updated document deals with how its concepts can be translated into tangible policies in 10 different sectors of society.
“The party had set up 10 working groups on each of these sectors,” Dr Busuttil said.
The plan is to include a public consultation exercise as well. “The Prime Minister simply pushed forward and gave priority to the public consultation dimension,” he said.
Asked specifically what his mission would entail, Dr Busuttil said he would be coordinating a structured dialogue with civil society and social partners, listening to what they had to say and to what their feelings were on the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead.
Asked whether he would be attending the meetings and then presenting Dr Gonzi with a report, Dr Busuttil said this had still to be decided. He has already started drafting a work plan to be discussed with Dr Gonzi.