News • 25 May 2003

More than a chance

The election of Charles Mangion and Michael Falzon is good news. But as Saviour Balzan explains they will not get far with Alfred Sant around

In politics there are no losers, only winners.

Of all the outgoing and incoming Labour candidates a justifiable measure of respect must be afforded to George Vella. You might not agree with the Zejtun doctor, but in the media we opined that Doctor Vella did genuinely believe in what he preached. It was not a drama production or a reaction to a bad spell in Brussels.

He was also the more eloquent, the best prepared in charging the deficiencies of EU integration among the three-pier leadership. Yes, at times he was hysterical, but he was man enough to recognise that a Labour party with a changed policy on Europe would not fit easily with his leadership.

As everyone now knows, Alfred Sant and Joe Brincat had different ideas. The former first said ‘le’ then said ‘iva.’

Joe Brincat continues to believe he his God’s gift to the Labour party. And thankfully we will only suffer Dr Brincat in Parliament.

There we can rest assured that he will continue to recount longwinded stories with occasional references to naughty jokes, from the Opposition benches.

The newcomers to the throne of deputy leaders, is jolly good news. It proves beyond doubt that the Labour party does have a soul after all. The delegates may look rundown but they know what the men and women who serve in their party have to offer.

Rejected and dejected were countless others who either represented old labour, the Alfred Sant clan or nothing much else.

One will hope that after Manwel Cuschieri’s harrowing sixty or so votes the Labour administration will proceed to remove his Lord Haw Haw radio programme. Then the Labour core should also be thinking of putting a respectable, intellectual as President of a social democratic party and not someone who probably still thinks that Schumann is a rare cut of German fillet.

Charles Mangion carries some baggage, but notary Mangion has what it takes to push the Labour party to new heights. There is one big condition however: that some time in the near future, Alfred Sant disappears from the trio.

The same applies to Michael Falzon, the quiet but hard working backroom boy at Mile End. His credentials are even more interesting than Charles Mangion and the fact that he fought it out with Evarist Bartolo proves that party faithful based their decisions on his ability to work within a team and for a team.

Yet, once again, Michael Falzon’s qualities will truly shine if the one and only Dr Sant calls it a day.

Of course, they will both say they are bolts and nuts behind Alfred Sant, but in their heart of hearts they know that with Alfred Sant at the helm they have the boat, the sails, the sailors but only a remote chance of sailing into port.

I know Charles Mangion and Michael Falzon as Europhiles. Okay they have not tattooed their conviction to their foreheads. However, they chose not to spout venom at the European ideal. They are recognised as moderates, people who could attract the middle class and catapult Labour into government.

As Mangion and Falzon warm their seat, they will see Alfred Sant enter into a new phase. In my days it was a Romanian athlete, the beautiful Nadia Comaneci. She jumped and swirled like rubber as we watched in amazement and she snatched one gold medal after another. But Comaneci who fled Ceaucescu to live in the West was a gymnast and was expected to hurl herself into the air and make u-turns. Alfred Sant is not.

As he put his first step forward as Leader of the Opposition he will have to reconcile himself with all the garbage and banalities that he dumped on the media in the pre-12 April period and the four years before that. The new consistencies he plans to inculcate on his newly discovered position on Europe will stand out and Mangion and Falzon will have great difficulties in keeping a straight face.