News • 06 July 2003

Black is black, get this country on track

From Silvio to Alfred, Father René to Peter Serracino Inglott, Saviour Balzan has this to say

We all change and thankfully for the better – as some people refuse to change. Germany’s foreign minister Joschka Fischer, who according to some close aides is a nightmare to work with, has unceremoniously dumped (apart from his former wives) Green politics, tennis shoes and leather jackets before finally donning designer three-piece suits.

He has not unsurprisingly become more conservative, which may not be such a bad thing after all. He has gone as far as telling the Convention on Europe that each country should be allowed to set its own immigration laws. Rich if you ask me, when one recalls Mr Fischer’s political roots.

Mr Fischer’s government has accepted Silvio Berlusconi’s phone call to Mr Schroeder. Not an apology by the way, but to the media and general public the diminutive balding Italian remains a dangerous fool - an unguided missile that does not bode well for his presidency of the European Union.

Which brings us back to Malta, where our Berlusconis are nothing like the real thing. It is one thing we should remind foreign guests whenever they complain about Maltese politics.

Alfred Sant, as we all know, continues to write his columns in The Times with titles that start with Pr.

When he decides to give up this nasty habit, I might start believing that the man is seeing the light.

Yet again, why should a columnist tell the Labour leader what makes sense or not? He should be surrounded by advisors. Yet from what I am informed, the only advice he takes is his own.

And that my friends, is why I find it so downright banal, so ridiculous, so bloody-minded to see that the Labour party has commissioned a report to look at the reasons for the its defeat at the polls, when it has a lively executive and an army of over 800 delegates.

the answer as to why Labour lost can be found in a short sentence further down as you read. Hopefully, it should facilitate the work of the commission.

The thing that gets to me is the fact that a priest has landed himself the job of dissecting Labour’s past and presenting them with the post mortem.

Father René I learn, is the man who has accepted the job. It reminds us of the presumptuous young translator who accepted the job of translating the EU convention’s Constitution from English to Maltese.

I am bewildered that a political party with roots in socialism and anti-clericalism should give the scalpel and knives to a religious personality. By the way, I also find it unacceptable that Malta is represented by Reverend Peter Serracino Inglott at the EU Convention.

Now, do not get me wrong, I have nothing against Father René who I do not know, but why is it that we have to find reason in the reports of self-declared intellectuals when the answer to our queries are screaming out at us.

Doctor Sant, the only reason that the Labour party lost the election is because of yes... say it... your goodself.

It is you who allowed Manwel Cuschieri to breed contempt. It is you who allowed the party to fly the flag of Don Quixote known as the partnership banner, and it is you who played foxtrot with your principles. It is you who closed the party in a cocoon and made it impossible for anyone to suggest different ways.

Which takes me back to the Convention on Europe and the cry of lament by Peter Serracino Inglott to the Foreign Affairs House committee that he was disappointed that the other member states opted for politicians instead of ‘laymen’.

Politicians, whether they are stupid, puerile, unreasonable, mercenary or even corrupt, represent the people that have elected them. PSI represents no one other than himself and the belief that we can still set government policy on the whims of a philosopher king who has appointed himself as the expert on everything from solar panels to pension reforms.

The time has come to face the music, call black, black and get this country on track.