Even before he began speaking, it was reported that Nationalist Party Leader Adrian Delia was expected to use Sunday’s closing of the party’s General Conference to spell out his vision for the country.

We have now listened, or read, what he had to say. As predicted, Delia based his vision for the country on five main pillars, with a direct emphasis on what really matters to people – their needs and aspirations. On that, the predictions were right.

They were wrong on another prediction -  that the party was to roll out some of its candidates for next year's European Parliamentary elections, which will constitute Delia’s first major challenge at the national polls. 

As words go, Delia made the right noises, spoke the right words. He spoke about corruption, but unlike some of Sunday’s other speakers, he did not mention Daphne Caruana Galizia and, while he did speak about corruption, he did not make his the fight against structured corruption such as is being done by the many spontaneous groups of civil rights protestors.

Whatever the words, Delia and his party around him are now expected to turn words into action. It is only when high-sounding words are translated into action that doubters and sceptics are turned into supporters. Although the most recent polls show what have been described as ‘green shoots’, they are so far too sporadic to be considered as a change in wind direction. Delia must understand that more is expected of him.

From what one can gather, the new speakers who preceded him on the podium on Sunday will not set the world on fire, either. They were too hackneyed, too vapid, too green (in the wrong connotation of the word) to make an impact. One understands this may have been their first public speech, but if they are to make an impact, they must become better speakers.

When he became party leader, Delia had promised a different approach. He has now found out that to be the Leader of the Opposition pits one directly opposite the prime minister and the governing party. At the end, there is only a hair-breath difference between what a Simon Busuttil would have to say and what Adrian Delia has to say.

He must understand the value of patience: just as the economy has its cycles, so too politics, in Malta especially, have their cycles. The fear expressed by Robert Arrigo, of the possibility that another PL win puts PL within reach of a two-thirds majority does not seem viable when one considers the political cycle. If that happens, PN has only itself to blame.

There has been talk, through this week-long general conference, of opening up the party to non-party members. There was some evidence of this on Sunday but, again, these are only ‘green shoots’ so far. At the end, the party core is still tightly-knit and very loathe to take in outsiders and to really listen to what they have to say.