News • 12 JANUARY 2003

Boycotts are dangerous

Presently Keith Grech is Local Councillor for St. Paul’s Bay. He is also a candidate for the general elections on the ninth electoral division. He is also an observer member of the MLP National Executive Committee, and a delegate of the general conference. He told RAY ABDILLA that by boycotting the EU referendum and some programmes on the media the MLP will suffer severely

At 29 Keith Grech is a young member of the Malta Labour Party but he has already served in several posts. He has served as Deputy General Secretary of the Party (1997-1999); Vice-President (1996-1998) and General Secretary (1998-1999) of the MLP Candidate’s Section; and General Secretary of the Labour League of Youths (1993). He also served as a Councillor (1999-2001) and first Deputy Mayor for Ta’ Xbiex (2000-2001). Incidentally, to date, he is also the only person to have been elected in two different local councils on behalf of the Malta Labour Party.

Regarding today's political scene Grech said that at present a lot of grumbling seems to be taking place all around and that is indicative of a general displeasure among the people.

Asked whether he regards the MLP as a decent alternative he replied that he believes that the people see the party as credible. The recent results in the local council elections prove this point quite adequately. "Indeed, only last March the MLP polled some 52% of the votes. If that is not a sign of credibility, then I don’t know what is," Mr Grech said.

Then the MLP candidate spoke about the MLP's decision to boycott the Where's Everybody programmes and the possibility of boycotting the EU referendum. He said that the decision to boycott such programmes were taken by

the MLP National executive.

"Twelve months have passed after the Party’s decision to boycott such programmes as Bondi+ and Xarabank, it seems obvious to me, at least, that the popularity of such programmes has not been dented in the least, and as a result of the boycott we are allowing our political opponents to enjoy a widely followed medium through which to put forward their political message, without us being able to put forward ours in real time. That for me is a handicap which we can ill afford!" the MLP candidate said.

He also said that the MLP can ill afford to make a similar mistake regarding the EU referendum. "Regarding a potential boycott it is my view that it would be rather risky for the Party in such a political exercise. This is so since in boycotting the referendum we could be sending out the wrong signals to the Maltese people that as a Party we do not value their opinion. This is anathema to Labour which as a Party has always held tight to its democratic values.

"Moreover, in boycotting the referendum there would be, in my opinion, the added risk of giving a walkover to our political adversaries. Indeed, with Labour boycotting the referendum, the outcome of this exercise would be surely in favour of the yes camp.

"Now, this would be a perfectly valid result, notwithstanding the boycott, as has been most recently evidenced in the Second Irish Referendum on the Treaty of Nice, in which only some 47% of the electorate bothered to vote, but which was still hailed as a success by the pro-camp.

"In this scenario, the Government could legitimately not only sign the Accession Treaty but even of formally Ratifying it before going to the polls in a general election. This might cause a new Labour Government some headaches from a purely Public International Law perspective.

"Thirdly, and perhaps more importantly politically, in boycotting the referendum Labour might be sending out the signal that it is not fully convinced of its own arguments against membership. Some might come to the conclusion that in boycotting the referendum the Malta Labour Party is passing a vote of no confidence in its own alternative foreign policy proposals, to the extent that it is afraid of confronting them directly with the arguments for membership. There is no doubt in my mind that this is potentially disastrous for our chances of winning the general election.

"It is my considered view that our best strategy is to fight the issue for membership head on in the forthcoming referendum, and thus get it out of the way for the general election campaign. If we fully believe in the strengths of our arguments against membership then I see no reason why we should shy away from the referendum, " Mr Grech told MaltaToday.

He then added that the Malta Labour Party has already stated that it considers the next general election as a sort of second referendum on the EU Membership issue. In this way thus, if a majority of the Maltese electorate in the general elections vote Labour in office, they would in fact also be overturning any possible previous result in favour of Membership in a referendum.

A second alternative, however, remains open to a new Labour Government, that is that of holding a second referendum on this issue at a later stage during its term in office. This alternative strategy would, according the Mr Grech, be perfectly legitimate.

The MLP candidate said that what he personally thinks about EU membership is not relevant. The Malta Labour Party has an official policy that is not in favour of EU membership and so long and until that issue does not come up for further debate within the Party, there is very little to add.

Regarding the VAT issue the MLP councillor said that this will be addressed in the coming weeks by the MLP General Conference. He personally favours the English adage of letting sleeping dogs lie.

He said that VAT is perhaps not the best taxation system, however, today as opposed to 1996, it has the benefit that people have got used to it. Moreover, he feels that the economy can ill afford another upheaval in its taxation regime within the current economic slowdown that the Maltese (and indeed the global) economy are experiencing.

Furthermore, VAT offers any government a degree of flexibility in that certain items may be taxed more (or less) depending on the circumstances. For instance, an eco-tax in the form of a higher rate of VAT on environmentally unfriendly items can be imposed within the ambit of VAT. Similarly, a government may decide to tax life-styles by imposing a higher rate of VAT on luxury items as opposed to a lower rate of VAT on essential items.

Regarding the people who left the party such as George Abela, Lino Spiteri and Alex Sceberras Trigona, Keith said that he was not directly involved in such episodes. But he believes that all these persons, and others such as Maria Camilleri, have a high level of potential whose input to Maltese politics in general and the Malta Labour Party in particular have been sorely missed.

"It is my honest view that we are all the poorer when such people decide to call it a day, for whatever reason they may do so! Personally, I look forward to the day when these persons can feel once again at home in the Malta Labour Party.

"But I still think that the Party as it is, is already very strong and its potential of winning the next general election is not to be doubted. What, personally, I would like to see an improvement in is in the way we communicate with the so-called undecided or floating’ voters," he said.

Regarding the party media he believes that it could be better but the recent introduction of Maltastar.com has also enabled the Party to reach people outside Malta in a very effective way.

Regarding the goals for his future Mr Grech said that not all is tied to politics. In a couple of months time he will complete reading for his Doctorate in Laws, and very much intends to set up shop as an advocate.

Regarding politics, as long as he can play a role, obtaining a seat in Parliament is not all that important. "Yes, I would like, some day, to earn that privilege, but only because I feel that there is a lot that I can contribute towards Malta’s long term development. But, then again, the national parliament is not the only forum which will enable me so to do. For the time being, I am quite content with serving as a local councillor."

Meanwhile, the MLP councillor is also very critical tof the electoral system. He said that it is a relic from the colonial period, and which for some strange reason we have retained for all these years. In theory the single transferable vote system guarantees a high degree of proportional representation, but as events ultimately showed in 1981 and 1996, the system is flawed and strict proportionality is not ensured, so much so that constitutional amendments had to be introduced guaranteeing that the Party receiving the greatest number of votes is guaranteed a majority of seats in the House, subject that only two parties manage to elect representatives.

But then again, as the events in 1998 showed, these constitutional amendments have not really solved the problem, for indeed, in terms of the 1996 general election Labour’s majority in Parliament should have been of two deputies and not just of one, as in reality it had been. Had the Maltese electoral system guaranteed a perfectly proportional representation, the troubles the MLP experienced in 1998 would have never arisen.

"Personally I favour a system in which the electorate votes directly for that Party, which they wish to govern," he finally said.