News | Sunday, 05 April 2009

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Abela appeals for national unity, but is snubbed by Sant and Vella

Charlot Zahra
The theme of ‘unity’ was the main thrust of President George Abela’s speech at his swearing-in ceremony yesterday, during a ceremony marked by the conspicuous absence of Labour leader Alfred Sant and deputy leader George Vella.
Abela’s investiture as the eighth President of Malta in Malta’s Republican history took place at the Palace in Valletta yesterday shortly after 12:15pm.
Abela, who last June was the main contender for the Labour Party leadership against current leader Joseph Muscat, took the oath of loyalty towards the Constitution of Malta in the presence of Speaker Louis Galea.
This was only the second time since Malta became a Republic in 1974, with the appointment of Sir Anthony Mamo, that the appointment of a President was approved by a large majority of Members of Parliament and had the blessing of both Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Muscat.
However, out of the six MPs who were absent from the vote in Parlament on Wednesday night, only Nationalist MPs Mario Galea and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando were present for the swearing-in.
“I feel a sense of humility and, at the same time, a sense of gratitude that the House of Representatives, for only the second time in 34 years, joined together in a unanimous vote, under singular political and historical circumstances, to appoint the President of Malta,” Abela declared.
“This sense of humility which is engulfing me now, and which must continue to lead me along the way, also stems from the warm welcome and expressions of good wishes my wife and I received wherever we went,” he added.
“In a sense of humility, I want that all my actions in this Presidency, starting from today, will be a symbol of unity and an impartial constitutional instrument worthy of the trust you have shown in me,” Abela pledged.
In his speech, the new President hailed the Presidency as “not only a major symbol of our identity as a Maltese nation, but at the same time, within the political impartiality the president is bound to keep – is also a living symbol of a moral and dignified authority.
“It is an authority which, within its restrictions, gives the person occupying the position the potential to give the presidency the mark he wishes to impart,” he added.
Abela compared the unity expressed by the political class in his appointment to the mustard seed mentioned by Christ in the Gospel: “the smallest among the seeds when sown, but grows to become the largest of all trees, with thick and wide branches in whose shade birds take shelter.”
“I hope that the Maltese mustard seed which is being sown today will find fertile soil in our country which will help this seed to sprout,” Abela said.
He warned that Malta was facing “serious economic challenges emanating from and driven by the winds and tempests of a global economy, in many instances lacking a social conscience and dominated by excesses and lack of fundamental values, which, unfortunately, are leaving in their wake victims consisting of millions of people finding themselves out of work”.
Abela described it as “a threatening challenge” – but also one which gave birth “to opportunities for those having the ability and the sensitivity to recognise these challenges, seize them and transform them”.
Another challenge that Malta was facing presently was the protection of the environment. “If we fail to look after our environment, we will be aggravating the state of the economy especially in the long run,” he insisted.
In a stark contrast to his predecessor, Abela in his inaugural speech recognised that Maltese society was changing and that the country needed to change in step to adapt for current circumstances.
“We also have a thorny social challenge,” the new President said. “A challenge resulting from a society aware of the fact that it cannot remain anchored in the past.”
He warned that “not all the changes which we will face are acceptable to everyone all of the time. Like every society throughout the ages, we could well be faced with more minority situations and interests.”
“The way in which these minority situations and interests become manifest and are faced, is a measure of our democratic credentials in a context where it is necessary and just to uphold and strengthen our traditional values, amongst which is the value of the family which I consider to be foremost,” Abela insisted.
He added that contemporary Maltese, “and more so with the passage of time, must be an inclusive society based on our obligation to uphold social justice and to express full solidarity with the poor, with those who are suffering and with those who are emarginated from society”.
Abela referred to Sir Anthony Mamo’s seminal speech when he was appointed President on 13 December 1974, win which he appealed to the entire country for national unity “with wisdom, honesty, not with egoism or a sectional spirit, but in the interest of your neighbours and of the country.”
“I was struck by these words at the time and over the years I continued to mull over their validity,” he said. “These are words which I will continue to treasure and act upon, in the same way that I will strive to follow the good example of all those who have served in the Presidency,” the new President ended his speech to the applause of all those present.
Present for Abela’s swearing-in ceremony there were former Presidents Ugo Mifsud Bonnici, Guido de Marco and Eddie Fenech Adami. Absent was former President Censu Tabone, who was indisposed.

czahra@mediatoday.com.mt

Profile: George Abela

Abela was born in Qormi, on 22 April, 1948, the son of a port worker. Educated at the Lyceum, he obtained a BA in English, Maltese and History at the University of Malta and later on his law degree, furthering his studies in European Law with a Magister Juris in 1995.
For 33 years he was a practising lawyer, spending 25 years as the legal consultant of the General Workers’ Union before his acrimonious departure in 2000.
As a union lawyer, he represented workers from the four trade unions in the negotiations on the Air Malta rescue plan in 2002, and later on he faced the GWU itself after assisting a splinter group of workers who formed the Malta Dockers Union during the port reforms of 2007.
Abela was mainly known for his role in the Malta Football Association. After first serving as a treasurer, then president of his local club Qormi, he was elected vice-president of the MFA and then elected president of the association in 1982, a position he held for 10 years.
In 1986, Abela was one of the Labour party’s representatives on the electoral commission – notably, the MLP representatives had refused to change district boundaries which the PN representatives said had been gerrymandered in the Labour government’s favour.
Abela was involved in the Kerygma Movement, for some years acting as chairman for the Campaign Solidarity Through Sports, in aid of philanthropic institutions. Abela also served for a number of years as director of the Central Bank of Malta and as executive director of Bank of Valletta.
Abela became deeply rooted in politics in 1992, when he was elected MLP deputy leader for party affairs. In 1996, when Labour took power, he was appointed legal consultant to the Prime Minister and attended cabinet meetings.
Abela resigned in 1998 in protest as the Labour general conference’s decision to go for early elections that same year. Abela claims he made his opposition clear to early elections in the Labour executive committee meeting that discussed the proposal. But Sant and the deputy leader George Vella disagree, saying Abela’s opposition was only made known in the momentous general conference that approved the early elections.
For ten years he was politically out of the loop. He participated in the Malta EU Steering and Action Committee (MEUSAC) in pre-accession negotiations for membership in the European Union, where he formed part of the core group focusing on the legal and social aspects of membership. But in 2003 he was rumoured to be mulling a challenge to Sant for the leadership when Labour lost the election.
Things came to a head in 2008, when Sant announced his resignation following another electoral loss. Abela began laying the groundwork for the leadership race that ensued, providing a formidable challenge to Joseph Muscat.
After losing the leadership race, he sat again on MEUSAC as the Labour Party representative and even offered a hot ticket to run as the party favourite for the European Parliament elections.
Abela is married to Margaret neé Cauchi and they have two children, Robert and Maria.

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