Simon’s true colour

How much has changed for Simon Busuttil, former head of the Malta-EU Information Centre? Here, he justifies his decision to run for MEP with the Nationalist Party

In the Valletta legal office where Simon Busuttil conducts his profession, loud dance music from outside is blaring into the burgundy drawing room. The irreverence of Strait Street jars with the corniced elegance of the room with its statuettes of plump nymphs and overlooking ‘amorini’ hanging from the frescoed ceiling.
Busuttil, just a year since he was last head of the government’s EU communications strategy and now running for MEP, talks of the quaintness of the street, a ghost of its former self when it brimmed with whores and British sailors.
Simon Busuttil on the other hand, has changed little. His agenda for the EU remains that of the technocratic public servant he was when in 1999 he became head of the Malta-EU Information Centre (MIC), the government’s public information service. His dislike for partisan politics means he is presenting himself as someone who knows Brussels and its workings and how to work in the EU rather than a political animal.
As a member of the core negotiating team during accession procedures, Busuttil had to walk the tightrope of objectivity in a bitter, high-charged feud between the pro-EU parties and Labour’s anti-EU stance. Unflinching in his responsibility, he kept his cool amongst accusations of bias, often sharing a patient smile, and always ready with facts, figures and evidence.
He still stands by the objectivity of MIC till this day, stating its mission was not hampered by talking on the funds Brussels was going to hand over to Malta, but also coming clean on the increase in food prices and how negotiations would have won subsidies to curb the ill-effects of the price hike: “We spoke about both the good and the bad. We were as careful as possible to communicate EU information as correct as possible. I do concede that bland and objective information tends to be more positive on the EU, because the Union is not there to devastate countries, rob them of their riches and impoverish them. But should we have blocked the process of information just because objective information would have led people to vote ‘yes’? I don’t think so.”
I ask him if there was ever any form of suggestion from his part to have Government start training translators ahead of EU accession, instead of facing the dire shortfall of linguists to translate documents for the Maltese side: “To be fair, we could not expect students to focus on translation courses before April 2003 without knowing whether we were going to be EU members or not. It was already a risk to focus on something like EU studies, as I did. For me it was a purely academic pursuit, but few did the same. We only needed translators if we joined the EU, and when the courses started in October last year, it meant there would not be enough translators in time for accession. I think we shouldn’t be fatalistic about this, because the situation will change.”
Now, the man who expressed his open dislike of partisan politics is running for MEP under the Nationalist Party’s flag, complete with full blessing by former Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami and his successor Lawrence Gonzi. Busuttil is expected to be the PN frontrunner. At 35 a father of two, Busuttil refuses to accept his new political career conflicts with the persona he occupied just a year ago.
“No, there is no conflict at all. When I was MIC head I had clear terms of reference to provide objective information without siding with anyone. I think I did that professionally but I won’t be a judge of my own course. I will leave it up to the people to judge me and I think they have already judged me on that. A year has passed since I was in that public office and I am now a private citizen and in a position to express my opinion. So I see no conflict in that respect,” Busuttil says, whose guarantee for election lies in the years of experience and knowledge of European affairs he has garnered.
But although he claims he does not see himself contributing to partisan politics as much as he will be contributing to the EU issue, Busuttil is now part of the political machine of partisan politics, much as he would like to express dislike for the quintessential characteristic of the island’s political scenario. In politics, there are no terms of reference.
“I still intensely dislike partisan politics and I will not be standing for partisan politics. That may put off some people but then other people may respect me precisely for that. I don’t know how to play that game and frankly I don’t want to learn that game.” I ask Busuttil if he would have contested as an independent, if he felt compelled by the PN’s partisan artistry not to play ball. But he says he ‘obviously’ has to do it on a party ticket, otherwise there would have been no hope of getting elected “given the reality of the political system.” For he claims this is a different ball game, and one that is not easy for people to appreciate: “People expect you to become part of partisan politics, but this is an opportunity to start a political process which is different from that we’re used to. We are talking about a wider context, to deal with politics in a different way. I have nothing to hide. I identify with the PN’s European policy and that is what ultimately led to my choice for the PN.”
Now he hopes for a majority for the PN at the June elections that will see five MEPs take up their Brussels seat, which comes at the paltry monthly wage of EUR1,200 excluding tax, and then an additional EUR12,500 for the MEP staff. “I think the Nationalist Party should get the three seats because it stood for EU membership. When you are voting, people have to vote in a way that renders their vote as effective as possible. The PN forms part of the largest political grouping in the European Parliament, the European People’s Party and that gives more weight to the Maltese MEPs in that grouping. After the next election, this grouping is expected to remain the largest in the European Parliament, if not increase in size.”
Five MEPs out of 732, Busuttil admits, lends a daunting ordeal to the campaign for Maltese MEPs in the European Parliament. “The real work in the European Parliament does not take place in the plenary, but the real influencing happens in the small parliamentary committees composed of 30, 40 people, where our MEPs will be in a better position.”
Busuttil, who hopes to work closely in the areas of trade and regional policy funding, still believes the minimum adequate representation for Malta should be six seats. He claims that the sixth seat was forgone in the name of the dynamics of negotiations. “As the other accession countries were throwing their requests out of the window and speeding up the process, Bulgaria and Romania, who did not make this enlargement, were quickly catching up with Malta, which was sticking to its guns on various points. The Maltese side believed the upcoming talks on the EU Constitution could have left room to sideline the sixth seat and play flexible in the negotiations. The five seats were accepted with the clear understanding that Malta would return to the issue through the Constitutional talks. The issues that benefited were those of funding, zero-VAT rated food and medicine, neutrality and abortion.”
The EPP-ED (European Democrats), the political family of the Nationalist Party, is currently the largest group in the European Parliament, with 231 members, 37 of which are British Conservatives, one of the most avowedly eurosceptic parties. As of now, the EPP are under a parliamentary inquiry as to whether their alliance with the British Conservatives does not share any political affinity, a ‘safeguard’ which determines whether a conglomeration of parties with similar interests is eligible for party financing. The reason: EPP leader Hans-Gert Pöttering alleged the Malta Labour Party, which formerly campaigned against EU membership, could have problems with its European allies, the Party of European Socialists.
The PES rebutted and criticised the recent deal made between the EPP and the British Conservatives to allow the latter to pursue their anti-European agenda. But the MLP are in fact the PES’s eurosceptic fuddy-duddies. Prior to the referendum, Labour MP Joe Brincat claimed EU membership was bad news for workers, since they would not be allowed to work over and above the maximum 48-hour week. The freedom to work beyond 48 hours is part of the opt-out clause in the working-time directive, where workers may agree to work over and above 48 hours provided their health and safety is not in jeopardy.
Busuttil says the MIC had rebutted those claims with a press conference and information pack. But today the opt-out clause is back on the debating table in the European Parliament, with the Party of European Socialists arguing for the removal of the opt-out clause which Labour had so fearfully warned about.
Busuttil has strong doubts that the opt-out clause will be removed. He agrees with the EPP’s position on retaining the opt-out clause, and does not want to see ‘the government’ decide for the worker. He points out to the irony of having the MLP fearing EU on grounds of the opt-out clause when the PES are pressing for its removal. Much like the irony of a political grouping that harbours such eurosceptics as the British conservatives, does he feel comfortable with the European right?
“I was careful to refer to the European People’s Party as EPP ‘dash’ ED - the British Conservatives with the ED. I identify more with the EPP. In politics you have to learn to be flexible and work with others. There are different opinions and different scales, as there are in the PES. I identify more with those in the EPP who are for a stronger Europe than those in the same group who are more sceptical.
“I identify with certain values that are at the core of Christian Democracy which I would define in two words: subsidiarity and solidarity, the latter meaning that in spite of the free market drive it should be ensured that nobody falls out of the net, and the previous meaning that decisions should be taken as closely to the citizen as possible. I would also add family values, which is very close to the heart of the EPP, which also includes issues which could be close to the left, such as having working time accommodate the family, including the full participation of the mother in the labour market.”
Busuttil disagrees with my appellation of former Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami’s two-speed politics: the schizophrenic partnering of open free market economics and a conservative Catholic value system. I mention civil rights such as divorce, and other legal issues relating to gay rights. He is shocked to hear the mention of civil rights, since EU accession will formally give full rights on the grounds of sexual orientation. “If it hasn’t happened by law, and that is debatable, it will come into direct effect on 1 May. EU membership means no discrimination with persons on grounds of sexual orientation. So to say that Fenech Adami represented some kind of schizophrenic politics is disagreeable. His push for membership represented a huge step forward for political and civil rights in Malta. After 1 May, to the benefit of us citizens, if we don’t get our remedy from Government, we can get it from a higher level.”