News • February 8 2004

A satisfied Prime Minister calls it a day

Kurt Sansone
With a big thank you, a final dig at the Labour Party and a couple of references to God, the man who dominated Maltese politics for the past 27 years, yesterday drew the curtain on his career as leader of the Nationalist Party.
During a press conference in the presence of cabinet ministers and other PN functionaries broadcast live on NET TV, Eddie Fenech Adami briefly traversed his political career, which was crowned with the signing of Malta’s accession treaty for EU membership in Athens on 16 April 2003.
Behind the cameras, Fenech Adami’s nephews waited impatiently for their grandfather to wind up the broadcast. "I hope to spend more time with my family, my nephews and nieces," Fenech Adami said of his future prospects outside party politics.

The TV broadcast preceded by a teleshopping spot hosted by that old nemesis now PN-convert Eileen Montesin, kicked off a series of programmes and features focussing on the progression of Dr Eddie Fenech Adami from his beginnings as a low profile lawyer from Birkirkara to the triumphant visionary realising his dream of taking Malta into the EU.
Reiterating the mission statement he had laid out in 1977, ‘I am here to serve,’ Eddie Fenech Adami finally bowed out satisfied with what his party has achieved for the Maltese people. An ovation ensued and after the camera lights went out, former president Dr Censu Tabone approached the man, whom he contested for the leadership in 1977 and shook his hand. More well-wishers followed as the PM was whisked away into another studio for a one-on-one interview with NET journalist Nathaniel Attard. It was a very hectic 70 birthday for Fenech Adami and a historical one for his country.