Facing his party for the first time since last June’s European elections, Gonzi avoided any reference to the defeat in his closing speech at the PN general council last weekend. Does the PM think that he has time on his side? Analysis by James Debono
Gonzi seems to be biding for time, for the economy to turn around and for investment to come his way. In the meantime he plays the victim, posturing himself as a leader who is ready to sacrifice popularity for the truth, while facing an opposition interested only in popularity.
Facing his party for the first time sine last June’s European elections, Gonzi did not even make the slightest reference to this humiliating defeat. Time was on his side. Not only are five months a long time in politics but the council was also overshadowed by a budget which turned out to be less of a shock than expected.
At grips with a global crisis, a divided party and a resurgent opposition, Lawrence Gonzi played the Gordon Brown card, projecting himself as a no-nonsense politician facing a superficial opposition.
The card does not seem to be working wonders for British Prime Minister Brown, but Gonzi still has three years ahead of him.
“You cannot please everyone all the time. Whoever does so does not know what leadership entails. Leadership means doing what is right, not what is popular,” Gonzi told his councillors.
But while discerning voters might share his doubts on Joseph Muscat’s appeasement of all disgruntled voices, ranging from estate agents and hoteliers to the proles he takes for granted, they will also doubt Gonzi’s self righteous attempt to monopolise the truth.
Gonzi did qualify his definition of truth, saying that while the truth was nobody’s monopoly, it is the intention behind one’s actions which counts – thus giving the impression that even when he commits a mistake, his actions can be absolved by some good motive.
But voters will ask questions like who is to blame for massive losses of the Fairmount contract? Why did Gonzi give his blessing to the embarrassing trip of his Finance Minister on the private jet of a prominent businessman, when he was about to pass legislation affecting a sector in which the businessman was involved? Who is to blame for controversial permits issued by MEPA despite all talk of MEPA reform? And who is to blame for the people’s reluctance to understand the pressing need for a parliament at Valletta’s entrance? And who are the people to blame if they feel confused after the government gave them a compensation for a still-to-be-announced hike in electricity bills?
Significantly most of these issues were not addressed in the Prime Minister’s speech even if he found time to appeal to the party’s confessional roots by taking up the defence of the cross.
Yet even on this point Gonzi struggled to reconcile European secular values and his own, going as far as saying that he is prepared “to defend the right of those with different believes to see their symbols, too.” Does that mean that Muslims and agnostics will also get the right to display symbols in public buildings in Malta?
Gonzi also took extreme care to distinguish the Council of Europe from the European Union. But wasn’t this the same court invoked by the Nationalist Party in the 1980s as a safeguard against human rights abuses?
Even when Gonzi echoes popular misgivings – for example, asking himself why certain medicines are four times cheaper in the UK than in Malta – people might well ask: where was the Prime Minister in the past eight years?
Gonzi’s strongest point in his delivery was that under his stewardship the country was saved from the worst blows of the economic crisis. He took pride in the jobs saved by targeted government assistance.
On the economic front he is in a better position than Gordon Brown, while Muscat has less ammunition than Cameron.
Gonzi’s worst enemy is persuading the public on the need for sacrifice when he raised expectations when ‘GonziPN’ had promised to reduce the top rate of income tax from 35% to 25%.
Perhaps Gonzi is right in saying that doing this now would amount to putting an albatross around his neck. But didn’t he put an albatross around his neck when his government over-spent itself in the months before the election?
On that occasion, “despite seeing a storm on the horizon,” he still behaved like a populist without even being in opposition.
Gonzi future oriented politics makes great poetry. He speaks on creating the educational system which would prepare a baby born today for the economy in twenty years time.
Pity that presently, according to a Tracer Report, only 33% of students attending boys’ secondary schools in 2008 continued their education beyond fifth form.
By putting the environment at the centre stage of his agenda, Gonzi sends mixed messages. For his environmental agenda is so technocratic that it might well include waste-hungry incinerators.
Unlike Brown, Gonzi has time on his side: a full three years to deliver with the opposition risking losing momentum after peaking too early. But having already resurged from the ashes before the last election, Gonzi might find it harder this time round.
What seems to be brooding is a greater climate of dialogue with the social partners which could take the Labour Party by surprise. Gonzi’s numerous references to social partners shows that the Prime Minister would try to avoid the way he was isolated last year, when all the major unions took to the street against the utility bills.
Gonzi made very brief references to the party’s internal feuds, limiting himself to saying that discordant voices are necessary of the party wants to be an architect of the future. Yet it was strange seeing the Prime Minister congratulate Victor Scerri for his integrity when he did not stick for him when it mattered the most. But how could he stick up for him when it was MEPA – for which the PM was by that time responsible – which revoked the controversial permit?
While Gonzi is bidding for time, Muscat is pressing the accelerator fearing a loss of momentum three years before an election is due.
Curiously, both Joseph Muscat and Lawrence Gonzi are now concluding their speeches with Eddie Fenech Adami’s rallying call: righteousness will prevail.
While the slogan captured the mood of the 1980s, the use of the slogan now marks a return to political absolutism in an increasingly sceptical society where pretensions of righteousness are increasingly questioned. Or is this really the case and people still yearn for certainty in a time of doubt?
On Victor Scerri
“His actions were testimony to seriousness and integrity.”
On deficits
“The debt created by the PN has always been translated into things which everyone can touch, walk through, appreciate and learn from”
On the crucifix
The message delivered by Pope John Paul II that Europe needs Malta’s testimony of values is even more relevant at a time when Europe – not the European Union, but the court of the council of Europe – is considering the cross as a symbol of division when for us Maltese it is a symbol of unity.”
“This is an opportunity for us to stand up and be counted.”
“Just as I have every right to see the crucifix I am prepared to defend the right of those with different believes to see their symbols too. This is what makes us European.”
On the PN
“This is an inclusive party which leaves nobody excluded. It is important that everyone has a voice even if there are cases when we don’t agree. This is our way of being architects of the future by reading the signs of the times to write the story of the future.”
On the recession
“It was possible for this island to defend itself from the waves hitting other countries, some of which much bigger than us who suffered a lot..”
On Joseph Muscat
“Had we accepted his proposals we would have put an albatross around our neck and the deficit would have exploded.”
On leadership
“You cannot please everyone all the time. Whoever does so does not know what leadership entails. Leadership means doing what is right not what is popular.”
On medicine prices
“Someone has to explain why a medicine in Malta costs €22 when in the UK it costs €6.”
On the future
“We need the safe pair of hands of us all. The ship’s captain needs everybody on board inclucing the Leader of the Opposition.”
“When we arrive to our destination rightousness will prevail because jobs will be secured”
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