Interview • November 23 2003

Aiming for another five years of PN

PN Secretary-General Joe Saliba thinks ahead to the next five years in which the Nationalists really have a tough job ahead MATTHEW VELLA writes

As construction workers tinker away on the PN’s flash new headquarters in Pieta, Joe Saliba has his own plans to put in action. Although the Nationalists’ double victory at the referendum and general elections at the start of the year is not such a distant memory, there is growing concern about Eddie Fenech Adami’s suspended, or maybe even postponed, ‘new spring.’
The social partners who gathered round Fenech Adami’s EU battlefield table earlier this year, today no longer flirt so gratuitously as they did back in March. Pensions, health reform, social welfare and the growing economic degeneration of the island have cast dark shadows over the performance of Fenech Adami’s fourth legislature.
Nonetheless, whilst the country braces itself for budget day tomorrow, Saliba already has general election plans in mind, keeping in perspective the long-term priorities of a party which has dominated Maltese politics for the past 16 years. The Nationalist cabinet changes little, but it has already started its fourth administration with some electoral bitterness. If Alfred Sant can hold on to 2008, he might get another go at top job.
But PN councillors (as they are called, which is the PN term for delegates, the MLP term) will have a tough job to have a new leader elected. Beating Fenech Adami’s record is a tough cookie. Saliba says Fenech Adami has been consistent in all his career and has displayed enormous respect towards the worker ("for him solidarity is not just a slogan but something he really believes in"), and says that he is a good listener contrary to what some people perceive of him.
"It will be a problem to a certain extent for the next leader, since the comparison with Fenech Adami will be inevitable. In certain ways this is unfortunate since Fenech Adami is really scooping up the honours. What the councillors will be looking for will be the values of the new leader, as well as leadership skills, and this does not mean being a dictator but that this person will manage to listen to everyone and lead this party as a team. Another important aspect of any new leader should be solidarity and the social aspect that makes him worthy of being a leader."
In the meantime, justifications abound for the PN government: last week at the PN’s general council, Fenech Adami told his PN councillors that the structural deficit was no mere consequence of some spending spree with no receipt, and that since 1987, the infrastructural miracles of the nineties was what the PN government had to show for its deficit. But then why would the Nationalists ever consider reassuring the people’s worries, days before the EU referendum, that the country’s finances were indeed, fis-sod (on a strong footing)? Weren’t John Dalli and the rest of the Nationalist posse aware of the country’s financial sorrows?
"And we even had a billboard on that slogan. We don’t consider the country’s finances as not being stable. The Prime Minister’s address at the general council argued that whilst the structural deficit was talked of in the negative, and no doubt life would be much better without the deficit, if you had to remove that deficit what would remain of those projects financed by that deficit. It would be an empty country, a ‘pre-1987’ country, a country without a power station, reverse osmosis, an airport, a freeport, information technology. The scales weigh both prospects. This is what the Prime Minister was saying. Who wants to eliminate these projects? And no doubt the answer is that nobody wants to eliminate these projects. The country is stable, and there is also space to develop. And now we have to look towards the future, to follow through these investments as they evolve, we have to see that another 20,000 jobs are created to really have our feet on safe ground. One factor does not contradict the other. It does not mean that because we are taking control of the deficit the country’s finances are not stable. We are tackling the problem head on."
With the realities of the country’s ailing economic situation warranting an expectedly tough budget, Fenech Adami has attempted to anticipate fears and recriminations by arguing that the coming budget will be a test for the Opposition. Joe Saliba concurs and says it’s a test for everybody, not just for government alone.
"It’s a test for everybody, and I hope that politics will continue to evolve in this manner. It is a test for government, which has drawn out a budget based on the aspect of solidarity, which safeguards future generations and the interests of which are not just to win votes, but to address the realities and issues of today. But it is also a test for the Opposition because Labour says it has changed, and in fact there are new faces as well in the MLP administration. Now is the time for the change in attitude in the Opposition and the Labour Party. Now that the reforms which have to be put into place are going to be set off, the Opposition should not just criticise as it has done for all these years. Will the Opposition keep on shunning pension reform and health reform, or agree in principle with what the government is doing to address the problems we have in this country? I’m not saying the Opposition should not criticise, but there are certain important reforms which have to be done and which will not be aided by that kind of criticism that is only there to scoop votes."
Fresh out of a general council meeting, Saliba celebrates this last conference as one of the best councils ever. "We have just emerged victorious from the referendum and general elections, and we did not expect such an attendance, because there is no specific reason for such an intense general council, as was needed for the Labour Party, which had a lot of burning issues to settle on. The attendance and the general discourse of the general council laid a framework for the coming five years of activity, and I am very happy about it. A specific difference from the usual roster of party speeches and suggestions and policies was the presentation by sociologist Anthony Abela, which delved into the development of society today.
"In terms of society, there is a general feedback relationship between society and the political parties, and society does change the general direction of the parties, as happened in the MLP. There are great changes abounding. In the past 16 years with the PN in government, there were great changes which affected society, especially in information technology. The Maltese are also becoming more individualist, and this is one of the greatest challenges for the PN. Whilst I think that the PN’s values should be guided by its Christian-democrat tradition, we cannot shun the growing individualist trait of Maltese society."
Bandying about Christian-democracy at this stage in our European adventure sounds idiosyncratically non-EU. The Nationalists always seem to be taking their administration forward on two gears. Whilst economic liberalism is on full drive, they never seem to fathom the equally socially-liberating aspects of their free market. A few months ago, and only following pressure from the European Commission, a legal notice set into force the recognition of sexual orientation as a basis of discrimination on the workplace, something that had been previously left out of the Employment and Industrial Relations Act. Come EU accession, shall we see the PN’s social manifesto gearing speed?
"I think this has nothing to do with the party’s Christian-democrat element. Certain issues are based on common sense, logic and discussion. We evolve. You mention the fact that sexual orientation was left out of the EIRA. We did not want to emphasise just one particular factor. Lawrence Gonzi’s (Social Policy Minister) argument was that automatically the law catered for all types of discrimination in the workplace, including sexual orientation. When it comes to divorce, we see ourselves as advanced in this respect and not conservative. We believe that there is little to gain for Maltese society and its families to have divorce introduced, which is why we oppose divorce. We are clear on this policy, contrary to others who are not clear on their stance on divorce. It is not the time to introduce divorce in the country."
So the next five years are now set on a betterment of standards for the Maltese people. Fenech Adami will be reaching his historical apex in May when the island formally becomes an EU member, bringing to a peak the Nationalist adventure which took hold of the country in 1987. So what next?
"As the PM said last Sunday, the PN is the party to have been in government at the most opportune of moments, both with Independence and the European Union. The PN always managed to change words into opportune facts. After having reached our political aims and established the country’s new political direction what we want to achieve now is to change the face of this country.
"The first is to make it aesthetically more beautiful, because we believe this is what the Maltese deserve. Secondly, we shall be working for a better environment, because this means respecting the individual and society. And third will be the general restructuring of the country in economic terms and in terms of employment levels. These have to be achieved irrespective of EU accession, but to remain competitive and guarantee employment for the Maltese worker. This is not simply a question of reaching EU standards for the sake of it, but because the Maltese deserve better living standards."