Interview • February 22 2004

Louis Galea: I’m not an underdog
He might be the least unlikely to win the Nationalist Party leadership battle, but Louis Galea does not accept the label of “the underdog of the race.”
“Underdog? The Oxford dictionary defines that as ‘one who comes off badly in the struggle of life’,” the education minister replies. “I’m hardly that.”
It is a pity that the dictionary does not include a definition of Louis Galea, but the Nationalist councillors who have to decide who’s going to be the next PN leader, and eventually prime minister, will have their own idea of what the contender stands for.
Indeed, Dr Galea is busy meeting PN councillors to secure their vote – so busy that his public relations officer says he has no time to give personal interviews to the media at the moment, but only to answer questions by e-mail, and to quote from the Oxford dictionary.
However he is also appealing beyond the parochial councillors’ vote.
“I will extend the hand of better relations to our traditional political rivals if they can share my vision of turning Malta into a more successful country and quickly,” he wrote in a Times article after submitting his nomination. “This is a small island and it should take us little to mature out of our petty disputes.”
Maybe this is not music to the PN councillors’ ears, accustomed as they are to fierce partisan rhetoric, including that from their party leader, but Dr Galea seems keen on speaking like a prime minister. So would he conduct a Cabinet reshuffle if he becomes our next premier?
“That's jumping the gun a little,” Dr Galea says. “There still is a whole process to go through and a time scale that will see the eventual departure of Dr Fenech Adami as Prime Minister before anyone settles down into the job. Besides, facing today’s challenges and opportunities requires the intelligence and creative input at all levels of all available talent. In the interest of the country I will seek to make use of all the talent available not only in the party and parliamentary group, but in the entire country. I want to see both a party and a national lead-team.”
The country’s priorities for the next decade boil down to one broad mission, according to Dr Galea: that of making Malta a successful EU country.
“Our priority is to make this a better country where people enjoy the fruits of what 20 years ago was just a vision – for people like myself, Fenech Adami, Guido De Marco, Censu Tabone, Ugo Mifsud Bonnici and others – to make Malta an EU member. This is now reality. That's our priority to make this a successful country.”
When it comes to internal party reform and the role of the party media, Dr Galea takes a functionalist perspective: “Ours is a properly structured party that functions well and that has won five out of six elections and a referendum; so it works.” No need for great changes therefore; what is needed now is that party members, committees, branches, local councillors, candidates and MPs “grasp better the vision and the implications of the new euro-med space and of the knowledge society,” Dr Galea says. “This is a new historic phase for all. Our policies and strategies must remain valid and relevant to all, especially the young. An in-depth continuous process of dialogue involving all is a must.”
Even the party media, Dr Galea says, “form part of a structure that has provided brilliant electoral successes” – which is another way of admitting that the party media are there to win elections. But he goes on to add that “all media in Malta – not least the party-owned media – have a crucial role to play in empowering all of us to make a success of all the national reforms the country needs to succeed.”
Dr Galea’s name has come up in the past regarding irregularities but nothing has been proved.
Is he concerned this will leave a negative impression on PN councillors?
“I don't think so; I have always been absolutely cleared of any hint of abuse or wrong-doing,” he says.
“It certainly had no such influence on Dr Eddie Fenech Adami who as party leader and prime minister appointed me senior minister in all of his administrations and with major responsibilities – for social policy, health, home affairs and now education.
“You'd be amazed at how many projects completed by Nationalist administrations were started by myself. I don't think Dr Fenech Adami, a man of unimpeachable propriety, would have entrusted me with these portfolios if he were not favourably impressed with my record.”
And what if he fails in the leadership race? What would be his political future?
“It should not be different from the past. I ran for deputy leader, lost and soldiered on. Life is not about staying or quitting if you don't get what you want. Political life is about working for the common good. That's what I have always done, with very good results, since I got involved in the root and branch reform of the PN in the seventies, I have tried to be effective in changing the life of others all these years for the better.”
If he falls out of the race after the first round, rumour has it that he might back Dalli, but Galea evaded the question and simply replied that he was not an underdog.