News • 27 April 2003

Inside Labour’s engine room

Bellowing underneath Labour’s fires, JIMMY MAGRO, Secretary-General of the Malta Labour Party, keeps the boat afloat, stuck in the centre of leadership struggles and foreign policy dilemmas. What will Labour do next, MATTHEW VELLA asks

HAMRUN - Magro poises himself on guard the minute I enter his office. He is ready with tape recorder in hand, admonishing me to be faithful to what will be said throughout the interview.

By the end of the interview it’s friendly banter all right. But there is no stopping Labour’s criticism when it comes to the media.

This has come to be an unfortunate reality of politics in Malta. Labour is wary of an English-language press that has been pro-EU all throughout the last Nationalist legislature.

Then again, the Malta labour Party is also wary of the Nationalist government’s arm-twisting when it comes to the media. And with unlikely vanguards crusading against it, it seems after all, that maybe the world is about to get Labour.

"I don’t think you are correct when you say that Labour has a grudge or suspicions about the media," Magro says. "The Labour Party is an institution, the media another. But criticism cannot be just one-way traffic directed against Labour. As the media has every right to criticise Labour, we also have a right to criticise the media.

"Take that interview with the Prime Minister in The Times, where he states his disagreement with a Broadcasting Authority decision. Had Alfred Sant stated that, all hell would break loose. With Fenech Adami, the media goes silent."

Magro recognises that every paper can have its editorial policy. He is just convinced the English-language press does not report faithfully what is said: "Labour had drafted policy document on many important issues throughout the elections, such as roads, environment and food prices. When you see the amount of coverage the EU got, it was dominant, and this was not the only issue that was at stake."

Wary about the independent media, whilst conceding newspapers their right to have their own editorial policy, Magro says there still is a clear and weighty slant against the Labour party.

"I think that if there is someone in Malta that doesn’t agree the media is biased against the Labour party, they are wrong. The Malta Independent on Sunday features a lengthy line-up of columnists. From those eight, only one is a Labourite. You cannot really say that that newspaper is independent."

You cannot fight the system it seems. The English-language press has run a pro-EU campaign ever since the re-election of the PN in 1998. Magro is, in a way, justified in his arguments as well as annoyed about the reality.

And now Labour faces up to the EU, a destiny it fully acknowledges with the general elections verdict. In five years time, the party could be asked by the electorate to take the country’s helm, this time with a stake in the European Union.

Magro believes the timbre of Labour’s democratic credentials has given a lot of freedom to prominent members within the party to speak their mind about the issue:

"Discussion has started. Internally no position has been taken yet. If there will be need for a vote, it will be taken. If we see there is a convergence or consensus, we will take that route of convergence.

"It is an open process, and this confirms the healthy and strong state the party is in. I have faith in the Labour party that whatever decision it takes, no matter how hard that is, it will always act in the peoples’ interest."

With Parliament reconvening in May, there is talk within the MLP about what tactic will have to be taken when it comes to ratifying the EU accession treaty. Sant will still be leader then, but prominent members are already talking about starting off the political debate with an effort towards consensus.

"The MLP vote still has to be discussed by the Labour party. I am sure the MLP will emerge with flying colours with the decision it will be taking.

"This is Fenech Adami’s treaty. Even if you agree with the EU, there are some derogations which are still not favourable for Malta. That treaty could have been better than it is today.

"Whatever vote will be taken by the MLP, without excluding the option that Labour will vote against, it will not be a vote on the concept of Europe, but on the accession agreement that Fenech Adami negotiated.

"The party is analysing the accession treaty, a process that started before the electoral campaign. In the same way the MLP acted in its political campaigns with the sale of Mid-Med Bank or the closure of polyclinics, we will deal with the EU issue in the same spirit. At the end of the day, one has to examine all the options there are."

Jimmy Magro does not rule out Labour being in government with Malta in the EU. Labour’s vision, he says, is to continue existing within the European dimension, EU or no EU. That means addressing the EU dilemma once and for all. And he says he has no doubt the EU was the determining factor in Labour’s electoral loss.

The European Socialist Parties (PES) are not happy to have seen Alfred Sant cavort with members of the right-wing Group for a Europe of Democracy and Diversity (EDD). Magro states this has never been intimated to the MLP and continues to say Labour is ready to co-operate with the PES as much as is needed, even as a source of criticism within the EU where there is need.

If that will mean shaking off EDD-hopefuls like Sharon Ellul Bonici, Magro says it will be party policy that will dictate Labour’s role in the EU.

"Everyone is free to hold their own opinions, but once the party has decided, you have to associate yourself with that decision. Everyone has to pull one string, this is the way parties work. The PN has a long history of dissidence as well. A party has to be disciplined."

Discipline will surely have to prevail now within the echelons of the Labour party, caught in the middle of a leadership struggle that has to put Labour right on track with the people’s EU mandate.

Alfred Sant announced his intention not to contest the leadership election days after the election on Emmanuel Cuschieri’s Tajjeb li tkun taf. Pre-empting him was John Attard Montalto, calling on Sant’s gentlemanly dignity to prevail after a consecutive second electoral loss, and announcing on NET TV that he was ready to fill in his shoes.

That did not go down well with the Labour grassroots, who following Sant’s announcement jammed the Super One switchboard calling on for him to stay. Jose Herrera also jumped in the fray, and then Evarist Bartolo was tipped into potential candidate mode.

The biggest upset for some could be George Abela, staunchly supported at one time by the General Workers Union, for whom he was legal counsel, and missing from the party since 1998 after resigning as Deputy Leader.

Magro says the delegates will make the best choice when it comes to decide.

"The most important thing the party needs now is to decide about its future political direction. Labour initiated massive social reforms and economic development. Labour was at the heart of transposing a colonial defence economy to a commercial one.

"We have worked so much for this that ultimately we have to work further to bring about wealth for the people and improve the status for the working and middle class. Labour is already addressing the need for change. It started in 1996 with privatisation and the shipyards reform. Today’s leadership understands the need for this change. Dr Sant is a person with a modern vision for our country.

"I believe Sant has still a lot to give to the country. I believe he has to consider his position and has to be given all the time and help to finally make the right choice. The present leadership is not incompatible in a future with Malta in the EU."

With Attard Montalto’s bid made clear, as well as other Labour candidates’ writings on possible leadership change, Magro says those who have already penned their opinions will also have to carry the grassroots’ reactions of doing so.

"It is like buying a pair shoes worth Lm10 for Lm40. You would have had to pay extra cash. This is like some reckless driver. Ultimately they will have to pay for the damages. All those who write have to carry the responsibility for what they write."

When I ask whether Attard Montalto’s premature bid was too brash for Labour’s liking, Magro says that ultimately, "anyone who states anything, will have to reckon with what is said. The final judgement will be a public one not a personal one."

The May general conference will be deciding the Labour’s leadership fate. After every general election, the Labour leadership has to be re-elected or changed according to the MLP statute. Deputy Leaders George Vella and Joe Brincat have already offered their resignation, but they are also up for re-election if they are nominated during the general conference.

Leader Alfred Sant is said to have stated he is considering the numerous appeals he has received to reconsider his position for party leader. Magro says that amid all the speculation, he knows Sant means what he says: "He is a serious man, and does not mince his words." Alfred Sant, Magro says, will be leading the May Day manifestations.

Magro’s term will be up in January 2004. The current changes in the Labour party could well signal his future, but Magro is ready to keep on serving the party, although he has not yet decided what lies beyond 2004.

"I see myself as an agent of change. I’ve been here since 1991, right in the middle of massive changes in the party, political, organisational and structural changes. I always believed Labour has to have policies that are resonant with the majority of the electorate.

"I feel that I can give a contribution even within those future circumstances, but for now it is still too early to decide."