[WATCH] ‘The work has to start now’, Perici Calascione on communicating PN message

Perici Calascione said the PN had been mistaken in assuming that it could still communicate its message as it did in the past

Alex Perici Calascione
Alex Perici Calascione

The PN’s new deputy leader Alex Perici Calascione said his party had an obligation to keep speaking out on corruption inside Labour, as well tackling bread-and-butter issues that affect people’s lives.

“It would be good for those involved in corruption to stop having attention placed on the Montenegro, Electrogas, and hospitals scandals. God forbid we stop talking about these. We would be helping those people who benefitted most,” Perici Calascione said on TVM’s Xtra. “One doesn’t exclude the other. The obligation of a party in opposition is to oppose what’s wrong.”

Perici Calascione said the PN had been mistaken in assuming that it could still communicate its message as it did in the past. “I think that [there has been] a number of developments in the way that one should pass its message. The wow element is not just about the person, but the method used by that person today. We should definitely get up to speed here.”

He later said the problem with communicating is not just about how it is received but also to whom you’re sending the message, and how that person will best take in the message. “If there’s one thing the PN should continue, and maybe it hasn’t done this enough, is to study these changes.”

He said that by studying societal changes, the party can better adapt its message to its target audience. “But there’s no one magic formula that allows you to do everything. The party needs to listen more, needs to be more inclusive, needs to go out and listen to experts.”

Perici Calascione added that he feels Malta is being exposed to certain realities to which the Nationalist Party is not being effective in responding. “We have an obligation to be more effective. An obligation to grow. An obligation to not wait one day – the work has to start now.”

As part of this strategy to communicate the party message, Perici Calascione said that he believes the tradition of weekly Sunday political speeches must continue. “With everything that develops in everyday life, every week there’s something to comment on.”

The interview was filmed before Perici Calascione was elected deputy leader of the Nationalist Party