The resignation of Eddie Fenech Adami as leader of the Nationalist Party has brought about a spate of reactions from the political front. In effect, the election of a new leader of the PN (with the party being also the party in government) would mean a new holder of the post of prime minister as well.
The business sector is keeping fairly distant from these developments, adopting the attitude that has been adopted in the past, which can be encapsulated in the phrase, "The king is dead, long live the king!". It will keep mum, let these developments run their course and then it will adjust accordingly.
Abroad, financial markets would be very weary about taking any rash decisions and activity would quieten down until a new leader is chosen. Up to a certain extent there is little expectation for any major decisions until the issue is settled.
The feeling is very similar to that of a general election, with the country willing to wait for a while until the new incumbent would start putting his own imprint on the decision-making processes of government.
This issue shall take over the news headlines for days and weeks to come and everything else would seem to pale into insignificance. In fact this has already started to happen.
This past week the two main trade unions continued to lobby for their agenda. The GWU continued with its campaign for jibs while the UHM continued with its campaign to achieve agreement on a new social pact. The Malta Federation of Industry also made important statements this week about the need to maintain our competitiveness and the need to move into higher value-added activities.
However, these bits of news all seemed to have got lost inside the unimportant middle pages of newspapers.
It is as if we are at the end of an era and we are about to start a new one. I strongly believe that it is not so and it should not be so. The king is not dead, long live the king! The agendas of the social partners remain on the country's agenda (irrespective of whether they are valid or relevant) and need to be evaluated by the government against a background of consolidation.
What the contestants for the leadership post of the National Party have to say about the critical issues facing the economy and our country in general is very important. Anyone that promises or proposes dramatic change does not know what he is talking about.
We are in the middle of an era that has changed the face of politics in this country and consequently has changed the way this country is governed which, in turn, has changed the way the economy operates in this country. We are in the middle of an era that has placed Malta firmly in the international economic scene through various initiatives, mainly our country's membership of the European Union. We need to proceed on this path.
Over these years we have moved away from isolationist stance, with regard to our economy, to an approach that seeks to integrate our economy more within the international economic system. We have moved away from state control over large segments of the economy without moving towards an oligarchic private control of the economy, thereby giving space to the entrepreneurial spirit of the economy. We have allowed the market economy to function effectively while ensuring that the welfare services continue to focus on those that really need them.
We cannot go back to old ways and/or move into yet uncharted new paths.
It may seem to be ironic that, whereas the election of a government is determined by the whole electorate, a change in the leadership and an eventual change of prime minister is determined by 800 people. This is why I believe that a new leader for the PN should not mean discarding the political vision and the electoral manifesto as put forward in the last general election. This is why I believe that it is a continuation of an era. This is why I believe that the new PN leader should be the one that is most suitable to sustain the continuation of this era.
This is why the business sector cannot just wait and see what happens. It needs to make clear what it expects from the new PN leader because the selected person shall also be responsible for determining the country's economic agenda and will therefore influence heavily the business environment.